New Tennyson
by GreenDragon94
Summary: Ben gets a new cousin. What happens next? BenXGwen
1. Chapter 1

**I don't own Ben 10**

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**Chapter 1**

Today was the last day of school and all was going well before Azmuth unexpectantly teleported on to Ben's desk. The whole class—apart from Ben and Gwen—freaked out. He demanded that Ben take off the Omnitrix, his tone gruff. Ben argued and tried to convince Azmuth to let him keep the watch, but he stood firm, not saying anything. Finally, Ben gave in. He hung his head and held out his wrist.

With a few twists of the face and a press of the button the Omnitrix expanded and he took it off. A few of Ben's tears hit the desk silently. With a snap of Azmuth's fingers the Omnitrix disappeared only to be replaced by another one. It looked different; it was slim, streamlined and white. The Omnitrix symbol was abstract but still recognizable. "Is this—" Ben started to ask but was interrupted.

"Indeed. Put it on." Azmuth said with a calm smile. Excitedly Ben put the new watch on, it conformed to his wrist creating a seamless seal. Ben gasped with astonishment, a wide, open mouthed grin on his face. He started to mess with it, quickly figuring out that it had a holographic display and worked by touch instead of spinning it. "You've earned it. Don't make me regret my decision." Azmuth warned. Ben nodded, too excited and happy to say anything. "I'll be off. Ben, Gwen, cover your eyes." He instructed. When they obeyed, they heard a sharp click before nothing at all.

Ben was the first to risk opening his eyes. He found that Azmuth had disappeared and the other students had returned to normal as if nothing had happened. "Gwen, you can open your eyes." Ben said. Gwen opened her eyes and looked around looking confused. When Gwen mouthed the question of where Azmuth went Ben just shrugged.

After school Grandpa Max picked up Ben and Gwen. "What happed to the Omnitrix?" Max asked.

"Azmuth showed up and gave me this new Omnitrix. It's so cool!" Ben said enthusiastically. He sat at the table so Gwen could sit in the passenger seat.

Gwen sat in the front seat and said. "I was surprised, knowing how he used to say he didn't want Ben to even have the Omnitrix. I thought for sure he was just going to take it away."

"Well, maybe he has more faith in Ben. Just so you know we are all stopping at Gwen's house because her mother and father asked us to stop by before we head out." Max said, knowing that there was something up with them.

"They did something weird last week, they took me to the doctors and had them take blood." Gwen said, turning around to face Ben. Ben just grunted, only half paying attention. He was too busy seeing what all this new Omnitrix had to offer. Without either kid noticing, a dark look fell over Max's face.

When they had gotten to Gwen's parents' house there were some boxes of Gwen's stuff out in the driveway. Ben saw that his mother was out packing it. Max parked on the side of the road and Gwen rushed out just to be met by a girl she didn't know. She was standing next to Gwen's mother. "Mom, who is she?" Gwen asked, her pace slowing to a walk. Loud, muffled yelling was coming from the house.

"Just wait here, I will go get Frank, he'll talk to you about everything." Natalie said, walking into the house. The shouting stopped and both fathers came out. Ben's was looking exasperated, his hair messy and face a blotchy red.

"Gwen, you are not our daughter. Max will be taking you to an orphanage." Frank said bluntly, his face expressionless and voice cold. "Dad, you will be taking Laura on vacion with you and Ben so she can get to know her cousin." Frank said, turning to Max without missing a beat. Gwen's heart sank along with her stomach. She dropped to her knees, crying, while the new girl picked up a suitcase and strutted over to the Rust Bucket.

"The Hell I am! You call us over here just to say that Gwen is not your daughter anymore and that she must go to an orphanage. You don't even explain any of this to us." Max said, his jaw clenched in anger. He could barely keep a hold of his own temper, but he also had to keep Ben from going alien. Max placed a hand on Ben's shoulder and whispered out the side of his mouth, "Not yet." Only Ben heard him.

All of the adults except for Ben's mother went in the house upon Max's insistence. Both Ben and his mother walked over to Gwen and knelt to comfort her. Ben's mother looked over at the new girl leaning against the RV, a sour expression on her face. She crossed her arms and scoffed as Gwen continued to cry. She turned her attention back to Gwen. "Don't worry, Gwen. Ben's father and I aren't going to let you get shipped off to an orphanage. You'll live with us in the guest room." She said soothingly, rubbing Gwen's back.

Ben's mother took another look at the blonde-haired girl watching Gwen cry and sighed. "I have to take your things to my house. It'll be okay darling, I promise." She said softly. She picked up the first box and headed to her house.

Ben looked at the mysterious girl, watching Gwen cry so coldly and felt a fire light in his stomach. He stormed over to her. "Hey!" He shouted, stopping right in front of her. "Who even are you anyways?"

"Laura, their daughter. Who are you?" She sneered, giving Ben a disapproving and disgusted look. Her eyes were a deep, emerald green and her long hair was honey blonde.

"Ben. Your cousin." He spat. Just then the door to Gwen's ex parents' house opened. Ben looked and saw that only Max and his father stepped out.

Max walked up to Gwen, holding a letter. He knelt and said, "Hey there kiddo, I have something for you." Gwen looked up and saw the letter. "It's your real Mother's and Father's will." Gwen took the envelope and opened it. "It says that you inherit everything. Their property, their wealth, their staff. You also have access to a bank account with money already in it." Max explained. Gwen's eyes scanned the first page. She looked but didn't read it, couldn't comprehend it in her shock. Not only were the parents she knew not her parents but her real parents were dead and left her a fortune. It was all just too much to take in.

"What!?" Laura shrieked. "No way she gets all their money! They only found out I wasn't their daughter a month ago." She stormed over to Gwen and snatched the letter out of her hands. "No way they changed their will that fast!" She said, disbelievingly as she skimmed over the official papers.

"Hmm, well maybe it's because you're not their biological daughter and it wasn't very hard to switch names. How about you try to have some empathy? Gwen was just abandoned by the only parents she ever knew, and she'll never know her real parents. So yeah, I think it's actually pretty fair that you're not getting anything." Max said passive aggressively, letting his temper slip. "Now, you're going to be coming on this road trip with us and let me get one thing straight; I am in charge so you will do what I say this summer. If you don't it's not going to be a very fun experience for any of us, especially you." Max said, glaring at Laura. He walked over to the Rust Bucket and held the door open for her. Max watched her closely as she stomped in with a huff.

"What about me?" Gwen asked, timid.

Max gave her a loving smile. "Of course, you're coming along." Max said gently. Gwen gave him a big hug before stepping into the RV. "Ben." Max said, stopping Ben before he stepped in. He dropped down to a knee and looked Ben in the eyes, locking him in a serious glare. "This summer is going to be fun if you do what I say." He gave Ben a small wink, without anyone else seeing.

"I'll listen Grandpa, I promise." Ben said with a sinister smile, catching on to what Max was hinting at.

As Ben walked into the RV Max stood up and faced Frank's house. "I am disappointed in you." Max said darkly to himself then got in as well. When Max was in the front seat, he saw that he was way behind schedule and it would be very dark before that got to the first stop. "Hey, Ben, mind giving us a hand? We're late." He asked.

"Sure thing, Grandpa." Ben said, guiding Gwen to his bed in the back. He went Upgrade, making Laura shriek. "Yep, I can turn into aliens." Upgrade said, he didn't pay her much mind as he took over the RV.

"I am so out of here!" Laura shouted. "See you freaks, let's see, never!" she said as she ran to the door. When she opened it, she saw nothing but empty sky. Laura squeaked, seemingly paralyzed with fear.

Max used a button on the console to shut the door. "Sorry, I don't need you falling out." He said as Laura took a couple shaky steps back. "Now, we need to talk about the sleeping arrangements." Max said, spinning the seat to face Gwen and Laura. "The beds in the back can only hold one person and now there are four of us."

"Gwen and I can share a bed. I don't think Gwen would like to share a bed with her after what happened." Upgrade said, his mechanical voice drifting through the speakers.

"Ok, with that it's all settled. I will start setting up your chores." Max said standing up and pulling out some paper.

"Me do chores, yeah right, and there is no way I'm sleeping next to an old man." Laura said, crossing her arms.

Max looked up at her and said, "You will if you don't want to get grounded and keep getting your allowance."

When Ben landed the RV at the camp site, he turned human, appearing in the center of the RV, laying on the floor. Gwen, who had been curled up in the back, silently crying, smiled a little and let out a small giggle. "What's so funny?" Ben asked, rolling over onto his stomach to look at Gwen.

"You look so tired." Gwen snickered, her smile becoming stronger. Ben got up and sat next to Gwen, Laura just rolled her eyes and walked out of the RV.

Max walked outside to find that a man was waiting for them. "Who are you?" Max asked.

"This is my old butler. Have you come to serve me again?" Laura asked.

"No, I have come for Miss Tennyson." The man said. When Gwen walked out the man gave a low bow and said, "Miss Tennyson, I was your parent's butler. I am here to give you a bank card with your name on it so you can access your family's riches and to offer to work for you full time."

Laura let out a scream in frustration and stormed off. Ben just looked around remembering that the first time they were here when he got the Omnitrix. "How much is in the bank account?" Gwen asked.

"Well, Miss Tennyson, your family had their own bank which you can access through any bank. The people that run your family bank are payed through the account so you will never have to worry about them. They will make sure your account is never empty, the best stockbrokers are running your stocks as well, it's all handled through that bank. I can assure you, money is no object to you." The man said.

"Well, I don't need you here so why don't you go back to the house I will be living in and help them until the end of summer." Gwen said.

"It would honor me, and I will stay on top of your bank to make sure you have nothing to worry about." When the man was done, he got the information on where to go and left. They called Ben's mother to let her know what was going on.

Ben went Wildmutt and started looking for Laura. She had run off into the woods, the path eventually became familiar to him. When he found her, she was at the edge of a deep crater, observing it. He made sure to turn human out of sight and said, "That hole is where I first got the Omnitrix."

She jumped and fell into the hole. Ben ran up to the edge, checking if she was alright. She was splayed out on the ground, her perfect hair and clothes now messy and dirty. Ben couldn't help but to laugh. "Don't make fun of me!" Laura shrieked, sitting up and looking up at Ben with tears in her eyes.

Ben jumped down and landed gracefully next to her. "Sorry, but it was funny."

"Either be sorry or don't." She snapped.

"Right." Ben said with a roll of his eyes. "Anyways, I just wanted to say that I'm offering a hand of friendship. If we're going to be stuck together might as well be friends." He offered her a hand up. Laura looked at him skeptically but took his hand, when Ben helped her up, she brushed the dirt and grass off her.

"Yeah, well, whatever." She scoffed and climbed out the crater. Ben rolled his eyes but followed her, leading her back to the RV.

Ben went Stinkfly and shot some goop at Laura and hit her in the back. "Well, since you're now my cousin you will get the same treatment that Gwen did when she was." Stinkfly said flying over her and turning human in front of her.

"So, you're saying I will be tortured by you every day?" Laura asked, walking next to Ben and trying to get the goop off herself.

When they had gotten back to the camp site grandpa Max saw the green goop on her and back. "Ben, you shouldn't use Stinkfly to mess with your new cousin." Max said with a wink.

"I'm sorry Grandpa, I'll try to remember that." Ben said in an overly dramatic, apologetic tone.

"I saw that wink old man!" Laura snapped, pointing an accusatory finger at Max. Gwen snickered softly to herself. "This is going to be the worst summer ever!" She moaned with an angry stomp of her foot.

"Remember when we were like that?" Gwen asked. Ben snickered and nodded.

"I'm the same age as you." Laura countered.

"Well you don't act like it." Max said.

Pink crept across Laura's nose as her eyes widened. "Well, whatever. I'm going inside." She said, storming off into the RV.

They sat around the fire while Laura hid inside, telling stories. When dinner was done Ben took a plate into Laura which surprised her. "I told you we'll be like friends, but as my cousin I will tease you and you're welcome to try and tease me." Ben said, sitting across from her.

"Well, I hope you will take into account that I'm just human, unlike you." Laura said.

"Well, I'm just as human as you but thanks to this watch I can turn into all kinds of aliens, before I got the new update, I only had 37, now I'm not sure yet." Ben said, starting to play with the Omnitrix again.

Max and Gwen came in. "It's time to get ready for bed." Max said. They set up the bed for Ben and Gwen while Ben set up the beds in the back for Grandpa Max and Laura. They all went to sleep, Ben slept as close to the wall as he could, Gwen had most of the bed. Gwen woke up feeling sad; she remembered how safe and happy she felt when she was held by Ben and so she cuddled into him and went back to a peaceful sleep.

TBC…

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I hope you like it, please let me know what you thought about it. (GD)

I got the idea form reading another story it was 'Summer Battles by: VegZombieGrl' (GD)


	2. Chapter 2

**I don't own Ben 10**

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**Chapter 2**

Ben woke up with a warm pressure on his chest. He groggily opened his eyes to see that Gwen was cuddling him, her brilliant orange hair covering her face. Yawning and stretching he looked out the window to see that the sun was just starting to rise. He carefully wiggled his way out of Gwen's arms. Luckily, he didn't wake her. After going to the bathroom, he decided to make breakfast for everyone.

Grandpa Max woke up to the smell of eggs, bacon, sausage, and toast being made. With a loud yawn he sat up and saw Ben in the kitchenette, steam rising from a pan he was working with. "What? Ben, when did you learn how to cook?" Max asked.

"I started studying recipes and whatnot after the "Summer of Adventure." He threw up air quotes while rolling his eyes. Max huffed but didn't say anything. "I thought that maybe you'd cook normal food the next summer but it was more of the same. I started to actually cook after that." Max nodded, picked up his day clothes and got changed in the bathroom. When he came out Ben was trying to wake Gwen up. "Come on Gwen." Ben groaned. "Wake up!" He shook her shoulder sharply and stepped back in frustration, nearly bumping into Max. He groaned and tried once again waking Gwen, she only groaned and rolled over. Ben snorted and stepped back again. "Alright, let's see you sleep through this." Ben whispered to himself, picking an alien.

He slammed on the button, turning into an alien he had never used before. The first thing he noticed was that he was completely armored. He looked at his hands, four thin, sharp fingers were in a flexible grey armor while the palm of his hand was like the rest of him, in a thick red armor. In the center of his palm was a hole, he instinctively knew that water shot out of there. "This works." Water Hazard chuckled mischievously, aiming for Gwen.

Max placed a hand on Water Hazard's shoulder. "Spare Gwen," He said softly. "If you're going to use your new alien to wake someone, wake your cousin." He guided Water Hazard's outstretched arm to point at Laura. He was more than happy to oblige and sent a blast of water at Laura, soaking her in less than a second.

Immediately Laura shot up, coughing and spluttering. Water Hazard stopped the water and laughed. "OMG. What the—why—how? God, it's all over my bed!" All her screaming woke Gwen up.

She looked from Water Hazard to Laura and back again. "Did you just hose her down with a new alien?" Gwen asked, getting out of bed and gathering her clothes for the day. Laura was pacing the RV, muttering to herself angerly. Gwen couldn't help but to smile, glad she wasn't the one who got soaked. She walked into the bathroom to change.

"Yeah, so what?" Water Hazard asked, holding back a laugh.

Gwen laughed. "Nothing." Gwen closed the bathroom door behind her.

"Ben, that wasn't very nice. Just for that you can use that new alien to wash the RV." Max said sternly, pointing to the door. Water Hazard shrugged and went outside to get started.

Laura went into the bathroom to get dried off and to change. "Did he do this kind of stuff to you when he thought _you_ were his cousin?" Laura asked Gwen, squeezing passed her to get the towels.

Gwen gave Laura a dirty look that she didn't see. "Oh yeah." Gwen said with a roll of her eyes. "He used to pull all sorts of pranks on me." She pulled her shirt on and said, "He'll do the same to you." She enjoyed the look of dismay on Laura's face but didn't smile.

"Surely there's reasoning with him. Everyone has their price." She said, desperately. She stripped down and started drying her body off.

"You know what, maybe he does have his price, but you don't have money anymore, remember?" Gwen said, a bit more viciously than she meant to. Laura let out a low whine, both being reminded that she was now broke and that there was no way to reason with Ben. "He always does what he wants. Grandpa will yell at him, punish him, but that doesn't stop him." She walked out, leaving Laura to deal with facts she was presented.

Ben and Max were already eating at the table, sitting across from each other. Gwen grabbed herself a plate and sat next to Ben like she always had. They all ate in silence until suddenly, "What the? Okay, there's no way in _hell_ I'm sitting next to the old man." Laura stormed over to Gwen and pushed her out of her chair. "Move it, imposter." She snarled.

"Laura!" Max shouted, standing up, his hands on the table authoritatively.

"Don't worry Grandpa, I'm already done eating." Ben said politely, he had stood up at the same time as Max. "Laura can have my seat." He grabbed Laura's arm and pulled her into his seat. He quickly put his dishes in the sink and walked out, his gait stiffed and forced. His face looked dark and serious, Gwen was concerned.

The air was heavy with an awkward tension as they ate in silence. Gwen finished her food before either Max or Laura. "I'm going to look for Ben." She stated before walking out leaving her dishes on the table.

"Be safe!" Max called after her. She gave a wave in acknowledgement.

Gwen didn't quite know where she was going but that wasn't going to stop her. She knew that she'd run into him eventually. After a while of wandering around, calling for Ben occasionally, she came across a cliff overlooking a valley. "Woah…" She breathed, walking to the edge to admire the view. The sun was just up above her face and she could see it in her periphery vision when she looked straight ahead. She smiled wide and called, "Hello!" Her voice carried far away across the valley, she could hear her voice echo softly. She took a deep breath and cupped her hands on either side of her mouth. "ECHO!" She bellowed, leaning forward with the exertion of the call.

She leaned too far forward and lost her balance. She fell off the side of the cliff and her stomach dropped. For a second, she was frozen with fear, too shocked to even scream. The gravity of the situation hit her like a bullet train and she screamed at the top of her lungs.

A vine wrapped around Gwen's waist and she twisted in midair to see Wildvine had jumped off the cliff. He turned and aimed his other arm to the cliff "Hold on!" He called, having wrapped the vine around a rockface that jutted out. Gwen was confused for a second before they abruptly stopped. The sudden stop caused her to be pulled up and away before falling back down and slamming into the side of the cliff. The impact drove the wind out of her and sent stars dancing in her vision. "Are you okay?" Wildvine asked as he pulled her up, she gave him a thumbs up, coughing and gasping when she could breathe again.

Wildvine held her close. "Climb on my back, I kinda need my other arm." He said with a chuckle. Gwen carefully and fearfully moved onto his back, she crossed her arms across his throat and buried her face in his shoulder. Her heart skipped a beat as he started to climb and she held him tighter. When they finally got back to ground level and Wildvine put her down, she immediately went back to the forest and sat against a tree.

Ben turned human and sat next to her. For a few minutes they just sat there in silence, Gwen's heart wouldn't stop racing. She let out a small whine and put her head on Ben's shoulder. Ben didn't move away, didn't talk, just let her calm down and wait for her to break the silence. They watched as the sun rose higher in the sky and Gwen's heart slowly settled down.

"What were you doing?" Gwen asked softly, her own voice sounded weird after being silent for so long.

"I was blowing off steam. I heard you yell 'Hello' and went to the sound of your voice. By the time I arrived you'd already fallen." He leaned his head against hers and closed his eyes. "I'm just glad your okay." Gwen closed her eyes as well, a small smile on her face.

"We should probably get back to Grandpa." Gwen said eventually. She was comfortable just sitting there with Ben but they'd be missed. Ben nodded, stood up and stretched. The light caught him, a golden line outlining his hair and face. Gwen's heart fluttered but she didn't know why.

"Do you need a hand?" Ben asked, offering his hand to help her up. Gwen smiled, nodded and took his hand. They walked back to the RV, Ben pointing out that he had put a large thorn in the side of every few trees on his path. "So that I could find my way back."

When they got back, they saw Max out front packing. Gwen jogged up to him. "Grandpa, are we about to leave?" She asked, her head cocked to the side.

"We'll be leaving first thing in the morning. I'm packing now so we can just wake up and leave." Max explained.

Ben went into the RV and set up his new PlayStation to the TV so he could play a game. "I miss my cellphone." Laura groaned as Ben passed her.

"What happened to it?" Ben asked.

"That stupid will said that I couldn't keep anything except for all the clothes I could fit in my suitcase." She gestured to her small, pink, rolling suitcase.

"I would have snuck my stuff in with the clothes." Ben said, turning the console on.

"I tried that, that stupid lawyer checked my bag _very_ carefully." Laura sighed. "So, all I have are some clothes." She went back to grumbling about her lack of a cellphone.

As Gwen passed Laura, she heard her pining for her old friends, Gwen felt a stab of sympathy for her. She sat down next to Ben. "Hey, Grandpa said at the next stop there's this big water park. How about we go, just me and you?"

Laura perked up at the sound of this. "What about me?" She whined. "You can't expect me to just say in this _dump_ while you two go blow all of my parent's money."

"Well first of all I don't know if I want you to come with us after the way you acted this morning. Secondly, it's not your parent's money, it's mine. Why do you keep forgetting that little fact?" Gwen spat.

"Why do you keep calling the old man 'Grandpa' then?" Laura hissed and slammed her fist on the table. She stood up. "Look." She sighed, walking over to Gwen.

Without either of them noticing Ben looked through his aliens and picked one. When Laura started walking over, he stood up and turned into an alien. "Arctiguana." He announced. Laura took a step back, what she was about to say forgotten. Arctiguana opened his mouth and let out a blast of ice. He froze Laura from her feet to her neck quicker than she could react.

"It's so cold!" Laura screamed. Articguana and Gwen laughed at her.

"What's all the commotion?" Max asked as he stepped in. "Oh…" He said when he saw Laura. "Ben, why did you do this?" Max demanded. He looked over the icy prison that held her trying to find a way to get her out. Unfortunately for Laura it was a solid block of ice.

"She and Gwen were fighting." Ben said, turning back human. "I ended it." He said with a shrug.

"That's not okay Ben." Max sighed with a facepalm. "Just, use Heatblast of thaw her." He instructed, leaving to continue packing.

Ben turned into Heatblast and made a fireball. "You're lucky." He said, melting her slowly.

"I hate you." Laura scoffed, her voice trembling because she was shivering.

Heatblast smiled and chuckled. "I hate you too." He said lovingly.

TBC…

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I hope you like it, please let me know what you thought about it. (GD)

I got the idea from reading another story it was 'Summer Battles by: VegZombieGrl' (GD)


	3. Chapter 3

**I don't own Ben 10.**

**Ok to anyone who thinking Ben is being a little to mean to Laura. 1 he is treating her like he did to Gwen is the original series. 2 he is very upset with Gwen's ex parents and is taking it out on her (Laura).**

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**Chapter 3**

Three hours had passed since Ben used Heatblast to thaw Laura and she sat on a log next to the fire still shivering. The sun was below the horizon only leaving fiery red to streak across the dark blue sky. Laura picked up a stick and poked the fire, looking into it pensively. Gradually she stopped shivering but she didn't leave the comfort of the fire. Even as the flames started to die casting the trees in deep shadows Laura didn't get up. It was only when Grandpa Max put his hand on her shoulder did, she respond. "Get your hand off me, old man." She snapped, and stormed off into the RV before Max could reply.

When she slammed the door behind her she saw Gwen coming out of the bathroom in pajamas and Ben just starting to set up the beds for the night. Laura just sat down and drummed her fingers on the table. She watched as Max came in and gave her a disappointed look.

"Wait, Ben, since when did you set up the beds without me telling you to?" Maxed asked in surprise.

Ben scoffed. "I'm not a little kid anymore." He said with the usual attitude he had when doing chores. Max smiled, knowing that Ben was still his usual self. He quite liked this little improvement.

"Yeah it was crazy." Gwen laughed. "When you left, he noticed the time and demanded that I get changed while he set up the bed. I almost thought he was possessed." She put a finger to her lip in mock contemplation. "I think it would have been an improvement." Gwen snickered to herself.

"Maybe someone will possess you and not be a pain in my butt." Ben retorted, grabbing his pajamas with a huff. Gwen stuck her tongue out at him as he passed which Ben returned.

"He better not try to tell me what to do." Laura grumbled.

By the time Ben came out Grandpa Max and Laura were already in bed, dozing. Gwen was sitting on the bed they shared, half asleep. Ben smiled and laid down, pressing against the wall. Gwen flopped down, asleep before she hit the pillow.

Images of Gwen's parents flashed in her mind, their faces ones of disgust and contempt. Their voices cursed her, called her vile things. Gwen curled up on the ground, sobbing, her parents' voices piercing her very soul.

Gwen woke up, sitting bolt upright, her heart racing. "What a terrible nightmare." Gwen whispered to herself, clutching her heart. Her throat tightened with impending tears as the pain of loosing the only parents she had ever known hit her again. She didn't want to cry, didn't want to waste a single tear on them, but she couldn't stop herself.

When she laid back down, she laid her head on Ben's shoulder. She didn't mean to, and for a second, she recoiled, but she was lonely and wanted physical contact. She laid down on him again, this time slowly and deliberately. The thumbnail moon gave almost no light so everything was bathed in deep shadow and dark blue hues. The dark made her feel even more alone, but Ben's slow, steady heartbeat soothed her. Her eyelids grew heavy and her breathing slowed to match his. "_Why does this feel so comfortable?_" She asked herself as she drifted off to sleep again.

000

When Ben woke up, he found Gwen was cuddling on him again. Ben smiled and scoffed, was he going to wake up to this every morning? He gently got out of her grasp and stood up to stretch and yawn. He got changed in the bathroom and when he came out, he started flipping through his Omnitrix. "_If Grandpa wanted to get going early…_" He thought.

Just then Max woke up. "Ben, what are you thinking?" Max asked wearily. He knew that if Ben was up and just staring at his watch it meant that he was planning on using it.

"Just about going Upgrade and driving the RV while you and everyone else does whatever they want." Ben said, turning to look at Max.

"Alright, you can drive. I can teach you some as we go as well." Max said. Ben smiled and went Upgrade. He took over the RV and started driving. Max was surprised to see that he was doing a very good job, but supposed it was a perk of being one with the machinery. Max smiled proudly and started making breakfast. "It's nice to be able to cook while on the road." Max said to himself.

When Gwen woke up, she was surprised to see that Max was in the kitchen, letting Ben drive. "Hey Ben, are you ready for today?" She asked excitedly.

"Heck yeah!" Upgrade said through the speaker, his mechanical voice still giving off his excitement.

When Laura woke up, she looked out the window and saw that the RV was driving itself. She couldn't help it she let out a scream. "Laura, calm down. Ben's driving, it's okay." Gwen said, putting a hand on her shoulder. Max came out of the bathroom, having left to put on his day clothes.

Occasionally while Ben was driving Max would sit in the driver's seat and point out if he was doing something wrong. "So, am I going to get to go with you and Ben to the water park?" Laura asked Gwen, both of them were sitting at the table. Max listened closely, but stayed still to seem like he couldn't hear them.

Gwen gave her a scathing look. "No." she replied tersely.

"Yeah." Laura sighed. "Whatever. Seeing you in your bathing suit would make me barf anyway." Gwen stormed off, going to recline on the couch with a huff.

When they got to the next town Ben pulled off into a bank's parking lot. Ben turned human and formed, sitting right next to Laura, who was not paying attention. "Boo!" He yelled, scaring Laura. she jumped sideways and banged her head on the wall. Ben couldn't stop himself from laughing.

"Oh, go suck on a lemon!" She hissed. Ben and Gwen laughed as they left to pull some money from the bank. Laura laid her head on her folded arms. "Why won't she give me a chance?" She moaned to herself.

Max was actually surprised to see her be so genuine and show an attitude other than prissy. He felt bad for her and resolved himself to make it better. Ben and Gwen came back inside a few minutes later, Gwen now holding an envelope. "Ben, can I talk to you outside?" He asked.

They walked outside. "Wait!" Ben said before Grandpa Max could talk. "I already know what you're gonna say. Don't worry, I'll get Gwen to let Laura come along." Max looked annoyed about being interrupted but nodded.

Ben started to open the door but Max stopped him. "Here." He said, handing Ben a note.

"You should have some fun with Laura at the water park.

P.S. Destroy this note."

Ben smiled and tore up the paper.

Grandpa Max started to drive to the water park with Laura in the passenger seat and Ben and Gwen on the couch in the back with the divider closed. "I know you don't like Laura but we should really take her with us." Ben said.

Gwen looked at him then at the ground. She crossed her arms and closed her eyes in deep thought. "Only if I can help you prank her." Gwen said after a few minutes.

Ben gave a wicked smile. "Now you're speaking my language." He chuckled. They got to work concocting a plan.

When they pulled into the water park Ben and Gwen walked up to Laura. "Alright." Gwen said, trying not to roll her eyes. "You can come with us. I have been convinced that we should try to get along." She narrowed her eyes and held out her hand. Out of her corner of her eye she saw Ben give a wide smile.

Laura squealed and did a small dance before seemingly remembering that she was supposed to be aloof and clearing her throat. "Thanks, I guess." She said flatly before shaking Gwen's hand.

Once everyone was changed into their bathing suits, they started to head out to the park entrance. Ben suggested that Laura and Gwen walk out first after he caught Max's look. When they had closed the door, he turned back to look at Max. "Okay, I don't know what devious plans you came up with and honestly I don't want to know. I'm sure Laura will tell me all about it when you three get back." Max said.

"Alright," Ben said turning around, about to head out. "if that's all."

"Actually no." Max said, his voice suddenly serious.

Ben stopped and turned back around. "What is it?" He asked, Max's seriousness concerned him.

"You cannot tell Gwen that I'm letting you do this. _Ever_" He emphasized.

Ben slowly nodded but gave him a confused look. "Okay, but why?"

Grandpa Max sighed. "I want to be an authority figure in her life. After everything that happened recently everything has changed for her and I want to make sure at least something remains constant for her. But if she knows that I'm giving you this special permission to mess with Laura without real consequence she might get the wrong idea." He said, quite reasonably. "Besides," he grunted "it's not like _he_ is an authority figure in her life anymore." He spat the word like poison on his tongue.

Ben raised his eyebrows in shock, it wasn't everyday that he saw Max get this angry. "Alright Grandpa, I'll make sure she never finds out." Max gave him a smile and a nod before he set off.

When Ben got outside, he saw that Gwen and Laura were already a good distance away. They were walking close together but luckily, they were far enough away for Ben to enact part 1 of their plan. He ran for them, making sure to keep his footsteps as quiet as possible so he could sneak up on them. When he was close enough, he stopped running and walked behind them, his pace matching theirs.

They got closer and closer to the main entrance and Ben could now see the pools on the other side of the iron fence. He turned into Spitter, the bright, green flash alerting both girls to his presence. They stopped in their tracks and Laura turned around, but there wasn't any time for her to react before he grabbed her and tossed her straight up. Timing the angle and height Spitter puffed up and waited until she was in just the right spot before blasting her with his slime at full force. The impact sent her flying back, she landed with a comically large splash in the nearest pool. Ben turned back human and he and Gwen started towards the entrance again, laughing.

When they had gotten in, they heard a commotion, it sounded like Laura. Ben and Gwen ran over to check it out and saw that Laura was being dragged, kicking and screaming, by a security guard. "I told you that I'm with someone! Let go of me!" She turned her head and saw them standing there. "Ben! Tell him that I'm with you guys!" She demanded. The guard stopped and looked at Ben and Gwen skeptically.

"It's true, she's with us." Ben said, hold up the wristband they brought for her. "She ran off without this." He added.

"Oh, she just forgot her wristband." The guard said, seemingly thinking out loud. "Alright young lady, next time make sure you have everything before running off." He said before letting Laura go. As he walked away Laura stuck out her tongue at him and flipped him off.

When she joined them, they started snickering. "That was _so_ not funny." Laura hissed, rubbing the wrist that the guard held. "If I had missed the pool I would have been seriously hurt."

"Yeah, well I have good aim." Ben said with a cocky smile.

They went up to a large map of the water park and debated where to start. "Ben, look!" Gwen exclaimed, pointing to a tornado slide. "Let's go there." Before Ben could respond Gwen took his hand and started running in the direction of the attraction. Ben yelped and ran with her as to not get dragged, eventually laughing and leading the charge.

When they got to the yellow and blue tornado track there was a very long line. "Are you sure you still want to go?" Ben asked.

"Are you willing to be patient?" Gwen answered, a skeptical eyebrow raised.

Ben took another look at the long line and then back to Gwen. He groaned and said, "Only because I'm not about to leave you alone."

"Why not?" Gwen questioned.

Ben shrugged. "With our luck Animo would find a way to crawl out of the null void just to ruin this day." Gwen laughed and nodded. They agreed that they'd all stick together no matter what and waited in the long line.

Slowly the line shortened, and during their long conversation Ben was dragged into a conversation that a kid in front of them started with Gwen. His name was Erin and he was on vacation from Ireland, he certainly looked the part with his bright red hair and countless freckles, he also had a thick accent. When asked why they were vacationing in a lesser known city he clarified that him and his mother were going cross country all summer. Ben smiled, Erin was no older than 8 and still had a very enthusiastic attitude. More clearly shown when he hopped up and down in excitement as they started climbing the stairs.

When they were finally at the top Gwen grabbed Ben's hand in excitement, they were high up and it made her heart pound in anticipation. Erin and his mother went first, being the only two on a small round raft that could hold four. With a gentle push from the teenage assistant they went zooming down the tube. Gwen saw the assistant start mouthing words, when she read his lips it was clear that he was counting down.

"Alright, next." He drawled, pulling another raft from a conveyer next to him.

"Can all three of us go at once?" Ben asked, gesturing to himself, Gwen, and Laura.

"No rule against it." He said with a shrug. They all got on the round raft, their legs meeting in the middle. Ben was sitting to where he'd be going backwards down the tunnel, Gwen was sitting across from him, and Laura was sitting to the right. The assistant started droning off the scripted safety warnings before pushing them away.

They were plunged into a bright, blue and yellow, world. The sunlight filtering through the pigmented plastic was mesmerizing. They started picking up speed, Gwen looked from Ben to Laura, they both looked equally as excited. They shot out of the tunnel into the main part of the attraction, a large funnel. They went side to side, climbing up the walls of the funnel, carried by the water. Gwen let out a howl of excitement. Ben threw up both arms and echoed the sentiment. Laura looked scared, holding onto the handles with white knuckles. Even though she was curled up, her head nearly between her legs, Gwen could see that she was smiling.

The side to side motion got less extreme until they approached the exit tunnel where they barely rocked at all. They entered the short tunnel, still going pretty fast and in a second, they were in the splash pool, skidding to a stop. "Woo! Let's go again!" Ben exclaimed.

"No way!" Laura protested. She was the first one to get off the raft. Ben and Gwen followed her, wading across the shallow pool.

"What, are you scared?" Ben teased, cutting in front of her.

"I'm not scared!" Laura said, almost running into Ben. "I just don't like heights, okay?"

Ben shrugged. "Yeah, okay. So, what do you want to do?" He asked, surprising Laura.

"I just want to swim. Let's find a regular pool." They found the nearest pool and Laura cannonballed into the deep end from the edge. Gwen said that she was going to tan on one of the pool chairs laid out for guests. Ben climbed up the high dive, waiting his turn with a devious smile.

When it was his turn to jump, he called, "Hey Laura!" Laura looked up at him, confused. "I can do a better cannonball than you." He said as he cued up Cannonbolt. In a flash he was Cannonbolt, a few people in the pool below recognized him and started cheering. He was relived that only a few people knew him, he didn't think he could handle all the attention if everywhere he went everyone knew him. Though he had to admit that sometimes he fantasied about being the most famous human ever.

He was waiting too long, people started to chant, "Jump, jump, jump!" it snapped him out of his thoughts. He shook his head to clear it and started bouncing up and down, the board bent under his weight. With a grunt Cannonbolt jumped up as high as he could and curled up into his shell. "Cannonball!" He called as he spun and fell. He slammed into the bottom of the pool, being sent back up into the air for a second before landing in the pool again. He turned human again and surfaced to cheers.

The wave he had created when he first hit the pool was so massive it sent people across the pool. Laura, who was the closest to where Cannonbolt landed, was thrown out of the pool. She had landed in a tree, right behind Gwen.

Gwen looked up to see Laura right above her and started laughing. "Just get me down!" Laura squealed, kicking her feet in frustration. She had to wait twenty minutes while the fire department came and got her down because the water park didn't have a ladder tall enough to reach her. While Laura waited Ben and Gwen had fun in the pool.

When the firefighters finally got Laura down Ben and Gwen got out of the pool, soaking wet and exhausted. They approached Laura who looked in a sour mood. She begrudgingly thanked the man who carried her down before they left. "Are you okay?" Ben asked.

"Like you care." Laura scoffed.

"I was genuinely asking." Ben said flatly but then shrugged. "At least you're acting normal." He shook himself like a dog getting Laura wet and splashing Gwen. Gwen laughed and playfully shoved him, Laura just shrieked in frustration.

"You're just a dog!" She screamed before storming off. Ben stayed put, confused and feeling a little hurt. He didn't mean to make her so mad, he just wanted to get her wet. What was her problem?

"Come on Ben, we got to stick together." Gwen's voice made him focus again and he nodded.

"How about a bit of a peace offering first." Ben said, a plan in mind. It had been a while since they've eaten and he figured that she might just be hungry. They found the nearest concession stand and got some food. Ben wasn't sure what she liked so got a hot dog and some chili fries, he figured he'd offer her, her pick and he'd eat the other option. Gwen got herself food as well. They left, food in hand, to find where Laura ran off to.

When they found her, she was in the lazy river. She floated on her back, her eyes closed, she looked peaceful. "Hey Laura." Ben said, his voice made her jump and she stood up.

"What do you want?" She said with a deep scowl.

"I got you food." Ben said, holding out both items. "I figured you might be hungry and, well, I'm sorry."

Laura's expression softened. "Yeah, well…just meet me at the end of the river. I'm not getting out early just for you two." Ben and Gwen nodded and trotted off ahead. They waited on a bench by the entrance to the lazy river. After a few minutes of people watching they saw Laura come out, she stomped her way over to them. "So, do you really think that food will be enough to make me forgive you for throwing me into a tree?" She snapped.

"It's not like I planned on you getting stuck in a tree. I was just having fun." Ben said in his defense.

"Yeah, I've gotten the backsplash of his 'fun' quite a few times." Gwen said. Laura looked to them back and forth before huffing, snagging the hot dog and proclaiming, "I don't like chili." They ate together quietly, the tension melting away.

"I know." Gwen said when they were done eating. "How about we go to the wave pool?" She gave a wink to Ben which Laura didn't see because she was sat next to Gwen who was in the middle of the three of them. Ben smiled, knowing that the wink meant that they'd enact part two of their plan.

"Sounds like fun to me. Laura?" Ben asked. Laura shrugged.

When they got to the wave pool Ben immediately slipped away to go to the deep end. Laura tried to keep track of him but lost him in the large crowd. "Do you know if he has something planned?" Laura asked, nervously.

"Nope." Gwen lied with a straight face. She stuck her hands in the water, giving Ben the signal. Laura smiled, feeling safe.

Ben swam along through the crowd of people and occasionally turned back to see if he could see Gwen and Laura. When he could no longer see them through the crowd Ben dove underwater and turned into Ripjaws. Being able to see perfectly in the water he swam under the water at the very bottom. He made sure not to bump into anyone as he looked for his signal. There it was, Gwen held up three fingers underwater and he recognized their swimsuits.

Ripjaws burst out from the water in front of them, roaring and baring his teeth. Both Laura and Gwen fell back, screaming. He also scared quiet a few of other people, a lot of them were running away. Ben turned back human, laughing. "Oh, Laura, you should have seen the look on your face!" He said between howls of laughter. "Sorry that I scared you Gwen, but you knew that was a possibility."

Gwen started laughing as well. "It's okay." She said, not mad that she had gotten scared.

"That's it!" Laura shrieked, Ben flinched at the pitch. "I am so out of here! I am just so done!" She stormed out of the pool, ranting and cursing.

"Don't worry." Ben snickered. "If she says anything about you, I'll deny it." They laughed all the way back to the RV.

As they approached the R.V. they saw that Max was already waiting outside for them, looking stern with his arms crossed. Ben walked up to him confidently, with a straight face. Gwen, however, was nervous; she didn't want to get in trouble. "Ben, what did you do to her? She's so scared that she won't stop crying." Max said sternly.

Ben was surprised, sure he had scared her but it wasn't that scary. "Well, first I used Spitter to shoot her over the fence and into a pool from the parking lot. Then, just for fun, I used Cannonbolt to make a big splash in the pool and she was accidently thrown into a tree. Finally, when we were in the wave pool, I used Ripjaws to scare her." Ben said, matter-of-factly.

Max took a deep breathe and let it out slowly. "Gwen, go inside, I'm going to take Ben on a walk." Max said, his tone conveying that he was holding back his anger. Gwen gave a quick bow and ran inside. Max and Ben started down the rows of cars. "Look, Ben, I'm fine with you scaring your cousin but you took it too far. Laura could have been seriously hurt and you scared her so bad that she won't stop crying. Just, be more mindful of what you do to her." Ben was only half listening to him. "You need to apologize to her, Ben." Max said firmly.

"Yeah, I know." Ben said.

"On a different subject, did anyone recognize you?" He looked down on Ben with a cocked eyebrow.

Ben shrugged. "A few people, not many."

Max nodded and they started heading back to the Rustbucket. "Make sure you act like I gave you a good tongue lashing." Max said quietly before opening the door and stepping in.

Ben walked in after him, a sour expression on his face. He saw Laura, who was crying on the couch, and walked up to her. "Look, I'm sorry okay, I didn't mean to scare you so bad. I was just trying to have some fun with you." He struck a good balance between begrudging and genuinely sympathetic.

Laura didn't reply, but she did stop crying. Ben took it as apology accepted and sat down at the table next to Gwen. Gwen put her hand on his. Ben looked at her and smiled, she returned the smile.

Max started up the RV. "I just don't know what I'm going to you." He sighed. The RV sputtered to life and started to the main road. "And with the fact that you're starting to get famous." Ben could barely hear him and assumed that he said it mainly to himself. Max started driving to a nice hotel that he had reserved while the kids were playing.

**TBC…**

* * *

**I hope you like it, please let me know what you thought about it. (GD)**

**I got the idea from reading another story it was 'Summer Battles by: VegZombieGrl' (GD)**


	4. Chapter 4

**I don't own Ben 10, but as people may have figured out is that I would love to.**

**I understand that I have let Ben go too far, this chapter is no exception but this time Laura caused it. This will be the turning point for Ben and Laura. Gwen however will still be holding a huge grudge. (GD)**

**Chapter 4**

Max pulled the RV into the parking lot. They all gathered the bags and headed inside. Max walked to the man at the desk, "I have a reservation for three rooms."

"Name?" the man asked.

"Tennyson." Max replied.

The man started looking through the computer. "Ah, here you are." He made keycards for all three rooms. He put the keycards into their own envelops that said their room numbers and some other thigs about the hotel. "Your rooms are 404,406, and 420."

When they were on the elevator on their way to the fourth floor. "Ben you take room 420 to yourself, Gwen and Laura take 404, I'll be in 406." Max said.

"What? Why don't I get my own room?" Laura pouted.

"Because it makes more sense for you and Gwen to share. If you don't like it you can share with me." Max said in a voice that left little room for argument. Laura continued to give him dirty looks as they rode the elevator. He sighed but stood his ground. He was going to just get two rooms but with how mature Ben was getting he didn't want Ben sharing a private room with Gwen and lord knew he'd have to break up fights if he and Laura shared a room. Was it so much to ask for a day of no bickering? He supposed so.

Max handed everyone their keys and they separated. Gwen and Laura raced to their room, whomever got the door unlocked first got to pick the bed. Ben casually walked down the hall to his room. Max entered the connected bedroom and tried the door that would lead to the girls' room. Locked, it must lock from the girl's side because Max couldn't figure how to unlock it. He shrugged, if push came to shove, he had the backup keys to all the kids' rooms. He looked over to the bed that was covered in a tacky bedspread, it was like a siren calling his name. He'd take the kids out to dinner after a nap. He laid down, as he drifted off, he could hear Gwen and Laura fight over what they were going to watch.

(Gwen and Laura's room)

"I want to watch the fashion show!" Laura loudly complained.

"Well too bad, I got the remote first. That's the rule." Gwen sniffed, flipping through the channels.

"It's not fair." Laura whined with a stomp of her foot.

"It's only unfair to you. It's not my fault that you were too slow." Gwen said sarcastically.

Laura snorted and snatched the remote from Gwen's hand. "Now I have the remote." She said triumphally.

"That doesn't even make sense, I said whoever got it first." Gwen said, trying to get it back.

"I think that rule only applies to _real_ Tennysons." Laura said, mockingly. The words hurt Gwen so much that she immediately stopped trying to get the remote back. Laura put on a runway competition on, a smug smile on her face. Gwen sat down on her bed quietly. The show was boring and full of unnecessary drama. A contestant had her wig snatched and everyone acted like it was some huge deal, Laura howled with laughter.

A couple hours later Grandpa Max rounded everyone up and they went to a diner to eat. Gwen tried to brush off what Laura said but found her thoughts wondering back to it whenever there was a break in the conversation. Grandpa gave her a curious and concerned look, and Gwen had to force on a natural looking smile so he wouldn't worry or question her. She was sure that it was the food arriving that saved her from any questions.

When they got back to the hotel Gwen was starting to get tired. She and Laura argued over who would shower first, Laura won. Gwen didn't mind though, she took a bath and was in there for almost two hours, meanwhile Gwen got to watch what she wanted. When Laura was done it was Gwen's turn, by far the best thing of hotels were their massive amounts of hot water. By the time she was done showering Gwen was actually in a good mood again.

Gwen flopped down on the bed; her skin almost as red as her hair. "Jesus, did you boil yourself?" Laura asked, her voice thick with disapproval.

"I love hot showers; you should try it." Gwen giggled; she was too relaxed to pay mind to Laura's scathing tone.

"No thanks, I like my skin intact thank you very much." Gwen could practically hear the eye roll. Gwen giggled and she could hear Laura snort in response.

A while passed in silence. Laura's snotty statement echoed repeatedly in her head. _"I'm_ not _a real Tennyson." _Gwen thought sadly. "Hey, Laura." Gwen said softly. Gwen heard the sound of sheets rustling as Laura sat up. "I…I was wondering… What did my parents look like?" She asked after a while of Laura not responding.

There were a few tense seconds of silence. Gwen looked up when she heard further rustling. Laura silently got up and walked to her suitcase. She unzipped it and after a few seconds walked over to Gwen. Her head bowed, and shoulders slumped, she handed Gwen a photo. "I managed to hide it from the Lawyer…" She mumbled quietly. Immediately she went to lay back down.

Gwen turned on her lamp, hands shaking. She was almost too nervous to look but she desperately wanted to know. The second she glanced at the picture there was no doubt that they were her parents. Her mom had climbed onto her dad's back. Her vibrant red hair flowing in the wind, covering her smiling face. Her father had short, auburn hair. His eyes were brilliant green like her eyes, and she had his nose. They looked so happy and carefree.

Gwen felt tears well up in her eyes and she put the picture down on the nightstand before she cried on it. Why was she crying? It's not like she had ever known these people, but still something ached inside her. It was as if she was mourning the life she could have had. She wiped her eyes before she started crying and settled down into the pillows. Questions whirled around in her head but slowly she drifted off into sleep.

Gwen woke suddenly in the middle of the night. She sat bolt upright, her heart racing. Confused, blurry memories of the nightmare she had swirled around in her mind. They quickly faded but the fear and confusion did not. She took deep, shuddering breaths to try and calm down. Her eyes burned with suppressed tears. By the time she started crying she couldn't even remember what was so upsetting that was worth crying. She covered her mouth, trying to stifle her sobs.

Gwen heard Laura stir and tried even harder not to cry. She took deep breaths and held them; tears still streamed down her face. Her crying must have woken Laura and Gwen felt bad about it, made even worse because she couldn't remember why she was crying. Laura turned her light on and sat up. "Why are you crying?" She grumpily asked.

"I had a nightmare." Gwen whined, wiping her wet hands on the blanket.

"Oh my God, who even cries after a nightmare anymore. You're thirteen, grow up." Laura snapped.

"It's not like I want to cry!" Gwen yelled, exasperated. She drew up the thin cotton sheet to wipe her face. While her face was buried Laura came up and smacked the back of her head. "Ahck! What was that for?" She rubbed the back of her head and gave Laura a dirty look.

"Because you're lucky. At least you thought you were being raised by your parents." Laura hissed, getting in Gwen's face. "The people who raised me were very vocal about their disappointment that I wasn't blood." The light reflected off the tears in her eyes.

"I thought you just found out, like me." Gwen mumbled.

"Then you're a moron. The only thing I share with them are my green eyes. It's why they could pass me off as blood to everyone else." Her voice was filled with resentment. "So maybe you should stop being such an intitled brat and be grateful that you had people who loved you growing up."

Gwen quickly stood up, shoving Laura in the process. "I had everything I ever knew ripped out from under me in seconds. I found out that I was switched at birth and that my real parents were dead. I was treated like a worm for a reason that was out of my control. At least your real parents will care about you!"

"I don't care what they did to you. I don't care about my fake parents or my real parents. The only comfort I had was that at least I'd be rich when the folks finally passed. But no. They found you. They were oh so excited and I was left in the cold. They had everything ready for you to finally come home." Laura wrapped her arms tightly around her body and took a step back. "And you took that away from me. You took everything away from me." She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "The truth is, _I hate you!_"

Without hesitation Laura punched Gwen in the head. Gwen stumbled back; her brain full of fog. She fell onto the bed, clutching her head; Laura knew how to throw a punch. Laura straddled her and pulled her hair. "You'll give the inheritance to me or I'll beat you within an inch of your life." Laura hissed into her ear.

"I won't give you a cent!" Gwen screamed, trying to push her off. Her efforts were rewarded with a fist to the eye.

"If you fight back or tell anyone I swear I'll make sure that the only people who care about you will abandon you." Laura spat, drawing back her fist. Gwen did the only thing she could, she covered her face with her arms and curled up.

Whenever she tried to block Laura's attack she just moved onto the freshly exposed target. At one point when she changed positions Laura uppercutted her. She bit her tongue so hard she tasted blood. Eventually Laura got tired, her hits getting weaker and further in between. Even when she finally stopped Gwen didn't get out of her defensive ball until she was absolutely sure that Laura had given up.

Gwen slowly straightened out, her whole-body aching. She had a feeling that if she hadn't curled up, she would have been hurt much worse. Looking at the time and seeing it was 2am she wondered just how long the beating had lasted, she couldn't remember when it started. Her whole head was fuzzy and she couldn't shake the fluff from her brain. Gwen stood up, glad that she could do that without pain, and limped towards the door. Whenever she put pressure on her right leg a spot in her lower back would burn with pain. Silently, she opened the door. She stood in front of Grandpa's door and was about to knock but hesitated. _"If you tell_ _I swear I'll make sure that the only people who care about you will abandon you" _Laura's threat echoed in her ears and she felt tears well up in her eyes again. She couldn't tell anyone but she didn't want to be alone.

After a few minutes of sitting in the hallway, contemplating what to do next, she had an idea. If she went to Ben then at the very least, he would believe her. If she told Grandpa, Laura might convince him that she was lying. She stood back up, her muscles stiff and aching. She took a deep breath before knocking on Ben's door.

(Ben's room)

Ben was fast asleep, enjoying the freedom of a large bed by taking up as much room as he possibly could. A set of knocks woke him up a little bit. He groaned and debated whether or not he had actually heard them. Another round of knocking sounded and he opened his eyes. Who could it possibly be in the middle of the night? Yet another round of knocking made him get up and stumble to the door. He was just about to open it when the thought crossed his mind that it could be Laura trying to get his room. Just in case he decided to go Big Chill and phase under the floor. He moved so that he would come up right behind whoever was there.

To his surprise it was Gwen that he came up behind. "Gwen? What are you—" Gwen turned around and his voice caught in his throat. "What happened to you?" She was badly bruised, had a black eye, and had dried blood on her chin. He picked her up, phased through the door, and sat her on the bed.

"Laura beat the crap out of me. She said that if I fought back then she'd turn you guys against me." Gwen said, sniffling. Her teeth were stained red with blood, was she still bleeding? Big Chill went into the bathroom, wetted a hand towel and froze it with his ice breath. He also filled up a paper cup with water. Big Chill handed Gwen the water. "Here, get the blood out of your mouth." He said. Gwen swished the water in her mouth while Big Chill cracked the frozen towel to make it flexible. "This is for that shiner you got." He gently put the towel over her swollen eye. "I'm going to go deal with my new cousin" He said darkly before flying to Laura and Gwen's room.

He stopped in front of the door and smiled; he didn't need a key. The only reason he had stopped was to think of what to do to Laura. With an idea in mind he phased through the door with ease. Laura was at the far end of the room, asleep on her stomach. He grabbed four towels from their bathroom and stood over Laura. He wrapped the towels around Laura's arms and legs gently, Laura slept through it all. When he was done, he picked her up and froze her arms and legs to the ceiling, making sure that the ice didn't touch her exposed skin. Being this up close he could see that her knuckles were bruised, it only confirmed what he knew.

He got in close to Laura and whispered in her ear, "If you ever hurt Gwen again, I _will_ make you suffer." He returned to his room and went human. The flash woke Gwen up and she sat up. "Don't worry, I took care of her." Ben said with a smile. Gwen returned the smile and laid back down. Within seconds she was softly snoring. He was about to lay back down when he realized that he should write a note to Grandpa Max to tell him what happened. He grabbed some paper that was on the desk and wrote a quick note.

"Laura kicked Gwen's ass. I froze her to the ceiling in retribution. Don't worry, she has a soft landing. Oh, and Gwen is with me.

-Ben"

He waited to turn into Big Chill again until he was already at Grandpa's door. He slipped in, put the note on the bedside table, and glided back to his room. This time he went into the bathroom to turn back human so he wouldn't wake Gwen. He yawned loudly; he was too tired to make the other bed comfortable. He shrugged and crawled into bed with Gwen. It was still more room that he had in the Rustbucket so it was okay. He quickly fell back asleep.

At 6 am Max woke up, started a pot of coffee, and while it was brewing got changed. By the time he came out of the bathroom his coffee was brewed and he gladly took a sip. He was about to grab the remote when a folded-up piece of paper caught his eye. He took another sip and shook it open with a hand. He nearly spat his coffee out when he read what it said.

Abandoning the mug, he made his way quickly to Ben's room. He entered the room to find Ben and Gwen asleep in the same bed. He walked over to Gwen and let out an involuntary noise of sympathy. Her eye was badly swollen and there was a distinctive bruise on her chin that looked painful. It seemed like his quiet noise woke Ben up as he jumped out of bed and had his Omnitrix face popped up before he realized that it was just Max.

"Grandpa?" Ben groaned. "Did you even knock? I was this close" He held up his fingers close together, "from going Fourarms and knocking you through that wall." He said, exasperated. "Now how do I tell this thing false alarm." He muttered to himself. Without him touching anything it went back to neutral. "Oh."

"Now that, that excitement is over we can talk." Max said in a serious tone. Ben sat down on the other bed and nodded. "Just what did you do to Laura?"

"Exactly what I said in the note." Ben scoffed.

"I was hoping you were joking." Max said, narrowing his eyes. Ben held even with his gaze. "Ben, you could hurt her like that. She could have frost bite by now."

"I wrapped her arms and legs in towels before I froze them." Ben retorted.

"That doesn't guarantee anything." Max argued. Ben just shrugged. "Look, I'm going to make sure that Laura is okay. You just…stay here." He said, rubbing the bridge of his nose in frustration.

When he walked into Laura's room he was instantly yelled at. "Finally! I've been yelling all night, are you deaf!? Get me down right now!" He hadn't even had his coffee yet and really didn't have the patience for this right now. Silently he stepped up onto the bed and checked out her frozen restraints. They were already mostly melted through. "Ben did this to me! I expect that he'll pay dearly for this."

"Seeing as I have personally seen the reason that you're up here I think I'll call it even." Max said coolly, stepping down.

"What are you talking about you senile old fart!?" Laura snapped. "I didn't do anything."

"I saw Gwen's face. I think you got off easy and unless you want to be punished by _me,_ you'll stop yelling at me." They locked eyes and had an angry staring contest for a few seconds. Laura snorted, rolled her eyes, and looked away. "Now, the ice is almost completely melted, you'll be free soon." He went over to the heater and turned it up. "I'd recommend trying to get your legs free first, it's not fun to hang upside down." Max said as he left the room. "We'll discuss this further when you get dressed/down." He said, letting the door close behind him.

He went to Ben's room to check on them. Gwen was still asleep and Ben was up, watching T.V. "Hey, when Gwen wakes up send her to me, okay?"

"Yeah, sure." Ben said with a dismissive wave.

"While she's talking with me, I want you to wait in the room with Laura." Max added. Ben started to argue with him but Max silenced him with a look. Ben murmured his agreement. He went back to his room to have the cup of coffee that he desperately needed.

Gwen drifted in and out of consciousness for a while. She heard Grandpa talking with Ben and fell back asleep. Then was slightly woken again with the sound of the TV being turned on but the noise quieted down again and she fell asleep again. Finally, she woke up with no apparent cause and this time she pulled herself all the way into consciousness. Ugh, that was a mistake; her whole body throbbed and ached. Even worse she could only open her left eye and her right eye hurt a lot.

She let out a soft groan and sat up. "Hey, you okay?" Ben's voice made her turn her head. He was looking right at her, a slightly concerned look on his face.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just…sore." Gwen replied. It wasn't a lie, but it was the understatement of the century.

"That eye looks pretty bad." Ben said, getting up and sitting on the bed next to her. He took her face gently in his hands and inspected her swollen eye. "I was really hoping the ice would stop the swelling." He seemed so concerned about her pain but Gwen couldn't feel it anymore. Her heart raced and her stomach swarmed with butterflies. She was snapped back to reality when Ben poked her forehead. "Yo, earth to dweeb. Come in dweeb."

Gwen shook the warm fuzzies out of her head. "I'm sorry, what?" She must have missed something.

"I was asking if you needed anything for the pain but it seems like you're back to normal." Ben said with a roll of his eyes.

Wait, was that an insult? "Hey!" Gwen said, giving Ben a playful shove.

Ben shoved her back, a smile on his face. "Don't get mad at me for calling you out for being an air head." Ben teased. They got into a shoving match, progressively getting rougher. When Gwen got shoved so hard that she landed flat on her back on the mattress she sprung back up and caught Ben by surprise. They tumbled back and rolled off the bed, Gwen landed on top of Ben. He shoved her off of him and sat up. "Oh yeah, that reminds me; Grandpa wanted to see you in his room."

Gwen's stomach dropped; the smart comment she was about to say evaporated from her mind. "Why does he want to see me?" She tried to keep her tone casual.

"After you fell asleep, I wrote a note letting Grandpa know what happened." Ben said, standing up and offering a hand to Gwen. "He came in this morning and saw your face." Gwen took it and stood up. Their wrestling match had done some good, it loosened up her muscles enough that it didn't hurt to move around. They walked together to the joint rooms, Ben knocked on Laura's door and Gwen knocked on Max's.

(Max's room)

When Max opened the door and looked at her his eyes misted with tears. He swept Gwen up into a crushing hug that lifted her up off the ground. "Why didn't you come to me?" He said as the door closed on its own.

Gwen felt her eyes burn with tears. "Laura said that if I fought back or told you that she'd turn you against me. I was afraid that she'd make you kick me out." Gwen choked out, starting to cry.

Max shook his head and put her down. He knelt down to get at eye level with Gwen. "I would never throw you out, Gwen. As far as I'm concerned, you're still one of my grandkids."

Gwen smiled and wiped her eyes. "Okay, Grandpa." They hugged again, this time he didn't crush her.

"If this ever happens again, come to me. I'll take care of it, alright kiddo?" Max asked, giving Gwen a warm smile.

Gwen nodded. "Alright, I promise." Suddenly a thought weighed heavily on her mind. "Hey, Grandpa?" She asked, Max gave her a small "hm" of acknowledgement. "you loved Grandma, right?"

The question seemed to catch him off guard. "Yes, of course I did." His tone was an invitation to further questions.

"Did it feel like butterflies in your stomach when you first realized you loved her?" She asked earnestly.

"Yes, it did, why do you ask?" His question made her suddenly doubt what she was about to say.

She looked down at the ground and said, "I think I love Ben." There was a long silence that made Gwen look up. Max seemed to be having problems processing her statement and had a finger up, his eyes glazed over. After even more time had passed in which Gwen watched the gears in Max's head turn, she said, "I'm sorry…I shouldn't have said anything." Guilt was eating her alive.

That statement seemed to have snapped Max back to reality. "No, no, don't be sorry. Don't ever be sorry for having feelings." He said it in a way that made Gwen think that there was more meaning behind it than she knew. He knelt back down and placed his hands on her shoulders. "I am not mad, but why do you think you love him?" His tone was so serious it made Gwen nervous.

She told him about how Ben had held her face. She told him how it made her pain melt away and how it filled her stomach with butterflies. "And I think it's love, Grandpa." Gwen finished. "I want to tell him, but I'm worried that you'd forbid it." She admitted.

Max shook his head. "If you feel as if you should tell him then do so, I won't stop you." They hugged a final time before they went to Laura's room.

Ben and Laura were sitting on the separate beds and glaring at each other. The TV was on but neither was paying any mind to it. It was actually impressive, the look of absolute loathing they gave each other. Max turned off the TV but they seemed not to notice. Max cleared his throat, both of them looked at him for a second before going back to shooting daggers at each other.

"Alright you two," Max said impatiently. "Let's just get this over with so we can have a nice breakfast downstairs." They didn't stop staring at each other. "Look at me!" He snapped. That got both of their attentions. "Ben, you should of came to me after you found out that Gwen had been hurt. In the future don't enact vigilante justice, let me handle it." When Ben didn't say anything, Max stared him down until Ben acknowledged him and agreed.

"Laura, besides what Ben did to you, until further notice when we stay at a hotel you have to sleep in the same room as me." Laura started to object but Max silenced her. "You hurt her really badly. You're lucky that this is your only punishment." Laura snorted but didn't object any further.

They all went downstairs to eat the free breakfast buffet. Tension was thick in the air making it awkward. At least the food was good. When they were done, they made sure everything was packed up and checked out early.

TBC…

I hope you like it, please let me know what you thought about it. (GD)

I got the idea from reading another story it was 'Summer Battles by: VegZombieGrl' (GD)


	5. Chapter 5

I do not own Ben 10

**Chapter 5**

Max let Laura pick what they would do today, she picked the mall before Max was even done with the question. He handed Ben his card and told them they had a $1,000 limit. "Just make sure that everyone gets their fair share." He said before they walked out.

"We could each spend $300 so it's even and we have money for food." Ben said as they walked towards the entrance.

"What? No way, I should get more than that." Laura complained, stopping in her tracks.

Ben and Gwen stopped as well. "Absolutely not." Ben huffed. "If Grandpa didn't insist that we share it then you wouldn't be getting anything."

"Whatever, just give me the card so I can spend my money right now." Laura said, rolling her eyes.

"So you can spend it all? Yeah, no." Ben crossed his arms, the card in his hand.

"Give it!" Laura said, tackling Ben. He was caught off guard and was knocked over.

They wrestled on the ground for a few seconds, Gwen trying to separate them. Ben shoved Laura off him and took off running. "If you can catch me, you can have it!" Ben called before turning into XLR8. He teased her by stopping right in front of her or right behind her. When she would try to grab the card, he would zip off. XLR8 ran backwards, going slow enough for Laura to almost keep up with him.

They ran into the mall, XLR8 had to turn around to make sure he didn't bump into anyone. He stopped in front of a store that sold fancy looking clothes and let himself be caught. "Oh, look at that, you got me." XLR8 said, holding out the card. "I'm a lizard of my word." He said when Laura gave him a skeptical look. He turned back into a human. "Only spend your share, okay?" Laura silently nodded, still breathing heavily.

Laura disappeared into the store and Ben went to sit down on a fountain. A minute later Gwen trotted up to him, breathing slightly heavier than normal. "There you are, where'd Laura go?"

Ben gestured to the shop. "I gave her the card. I really don't want to go in there."

"You know she's just going to steal all the money, right?" Gwen said, sitting next to Ben.

Ben shrugged. "I decided to try trusting her." He paused for a moment before saying, "Besides, I'll be checking her receipt. She'll pay for going over budget." A devious smile spread across his face as he imagined what he'd do to her.

Two hours later Laura came out, toting several large bags and a wide smile. "I haven't had that much fun shopping in years!" She giggled, doing a small spin in her excitement.

"Glad you had fun, now give me the receipt." Ben said, holding his hand out. Laura looked taken aback but set the bags down and started rifling through them. Ben caught glimpses of boldly colored and patterned clothes and couldn't help but to roll his eyes. Laura handed him a long receipt. Ben's eyes widened as he skimmed through the long list. At the bottom was the final price: $298.76. "How did you manage to get it so close? You must have gotten 30 items at least."

Laura smirked, looking immensely proud of herself. "You thought my parents got rich by blowing all their money. No, mommy taught me how to take advantage of sales and little-known discounts." Laura caught the dirty look Gwen shot her. "Oh, whatever. Point is, I know how to save money _and_ look fabulous." She said to Gwen. They exchanged tense stares for a few seconds before they broke eye contact at the same time, both huffing in frustration.

"So, where do you want to go, Gwen?" Ben asked, trying to break the tension. Gwen looked to think about it hard but eventually she suggested going to the arcade.

"Whatever, I'm going to look around more shops." Laura said with a scoff. She started to walk off before Ben reminded her that she had no more money to spend. Laura dropped her bags, reached into one and in a second threw the card with a flick of her wrist. The card went soaring and hit Ben squarely in the forehead. "I don't need money to look around!" She called over her shoulder as she stormed off.

Ben rubbed his forehead, giving Laura the stink eye until she walked out of sight. "Bitch." Gwen said under her breath while she picked up the card. Ben was surprised, he had never heard Gwen curse before. He decided to pretend as if he didn't hear her.

They went to the arcade and Gwen split her money up between the both of them, putting it all on reloadable cards. To their surprise the arcade had a small mini golf course and they played that first; Gwen beat Ben by only a couple strokes. They had a contest to see who could win the most tickets, Ben won by a landslide. He stayed with the basketball game the whole time. He wanted to go alien but there were too many people around and a big, red, four-armed alien would be too noticeable. As part of their bet Ben got to pick what they did with their tickets; he chose to get a limited-edition Sumo Slammers action figure. Overall, they spent two and a half hours in the arcade.

They left to find where Laura ran off to. Gwen found her in a bra store, Ben refused to search with her there. Laura was in the middle of trying on bras. She told Laura to meet them in the food court when she was done. When she met back up with Ben they started walking together. Gwen took Ben's hand but he shrugged her off. "I had so much fun at the arcade. I only wish that I didn't spend all my money on being competitive. I really wanted to play that VR game." Gwen said, taking Ben's hand again.

"You're just saying that because you lost." Ben teased. "Also, why do you keep trying to hold my hand?" Ben asked, pulling his hand away again.

Gwen hugged her belly, anxiety putting butterflies in her stomach. She needed to stop being so selfish and not make Ben so uncomfortable. "Sorry," she mumbled. "I was just trying to stay close."

"I don't mind, I was just wondering." Ben said urgently. He took her hand and held it. He felt guilty for upsetting her, even though he couldn't figure out why.

Gwen stopped in her tracks and turned to look Ben in the eyes, Ben followed suit almost immediately. Could it really be that Ben had gotten the hint? Her face got hot at that thought. Gwen could see Ben's cheeks pinken slightly. "I'm hungry, how about we go to the food court?" Gwen said, looking away awkwardly. Ben mumbled his agreement and they walked, hand in hand, to the food court. They kept their gaze straight ahead most of the time, both getting a jolt of embarrassment when they looked at the other.

Gwen spotted Laura sitting alone at a table. Gwen let go of Ben's hand and jogged up to her. "Hey, are you hungry?" She asked.

"Yeah, but I'm out of money. Remember?" She spat, glancing up at Gwen.

"That's what the extra $100 is for, remember?" Ben said as he walked up. "So, there's no need to be so rude." Ben took Laura to get her food and then took Gwen. Laura got Chinese food while Gwen got a couple slices of pizza. Ben only got a soda.

"Why aren't you eating anything?" Gwen asked.

"Not hungry." Ben said with a shrug.

Ben had finished his first soda before Gwen and Laura were even half way done. He shook the cup in boredom, the ice rattled around. Ben was just about to get up to refill his soda when three girls strode up to their table. He saw Laura sit up straighter and quickly finger comb her hair. "Hey baby." One of the girls, who looked to be the leader of the trio, said. She looked Ben in the eye and winked at him. Ben couldn't help but to snort.

"Hey, I'm Laura." Laura said, trying to act casual. It was clear that she was excited to talk to some people that clearly came from her class.

The leader snapped her head to look at Laura. "I wasn't talking to you, loser." She turned her attention back to Ben and smiled sweetly. "I was talking to the cutie." She giggled. Laura visibly deflated.

In unison the three girls walked up to Ben, the leader stood in front of him while one of the other girls, she had curly brown hair, sat down next to him. Gwen skootched away so they weren't touching. The other girl, whose long black hair reached her butt, stood at his other side and wrapped an arm around him. "Why don't you come with us? We can make it worth your while." She leaned over and put her hands on his thighs. Ben could feel himself blush as her dress fell, not giving him much of a choice other than to see her lacey pink bra.

He looked away and saw Gwen looking down, her eyes sparkling with barely held in tears. Whatever attraction he felt for the girls disappeared in an instant. He could see them for what they really were: predatory. Ben swelled with righteous indignation and looked the leader right in the eyes.

"So, what's it going to be darling?" She asked as the girl with black hair started kissing on his neck. It was clear that she thought that she had him in her trap.

"Get off of me." Ben hissed. The leader straightened up, clearly taken aback. "I don't know what kind of idiot you take me for but I'm not into you."

"What, you'd rather pal around with these _inbred mutts_ all day?" The leader retorted with a flip of her hot pink hair.

Ben stood up, getting in the leader's face. "Listen here you fashion reject. That's my cousin," He said, throwing a thumb over his shoulder. "And that's my best friend." He gestured to Gwen. "And if you three _street walkers_ have a problem with that then you can just go back to the corner where you belong."

The leader stepped back; her face twisted in anger. She snapped her fingers and the other two girls joined her. "Whatever." She hissed. "You just missed the best time of your pathetic life, freak." And with that they all turned on their heel and stormed off.

Ben smiled and sat back down. "Anyone need a refill?" He asked, shaking his empty cup. Gwen wiped her eyes and nodded. He walked off to go get the sodas.

"I can't believe he defended me." Laura said in disbelief.

"I can't believe he didn't go with them." Gwen said, pleasantly surprised.

"I know right. I know I would of." Laura said. Gwen gave her a surprised look and her face turned a light shade of pink. "I mean…" She cleared her throat in embarrassment and started eating again, trying to avoid finishing the sentence. Gwen chuckled and took a bite of her pizza.

000

"Hey, if you can catch me, I'll give you the credit card." Ben said to Laura.

"You'll just use that stupid blue lizard." Laura scoffed.

Ben smiled and raised his right hand. "I promise I won't." He vowed. Laura gave him a skeptical look for a second before lunging for him. They took off running down the long hall. Gwen scoffed and shook her head in silent disappointment.

She was just about to chase after them when a phone store caught her eye. "I'll find them later." She said to herself before going in. As it turned out they sold both phones and customized cases that they made there. She smiled, an idea forming in her mind.

Ben ran up the stairs, his lungs burning and heart pounding. Laura had chased him to the second story. He took a glance behind him to see that Laura was right behind him. On an impulse he mounted the railing and vaulted over it, jumping down to the first floor. It wasn't until he was falling that he realized he might land on someone and hurt them. Well, it was too late for that now and he braced himself for the landing. Luckily, he landed where there was no one else and he rolled into the landing, saving himself from injury. He turned and ran into a store under the railing.

The chase became a game of hide and seek. Ben lost track of time but eventually decided to run back to the Rustbucket. He was getting bored so either he won by getting there first or she forfeited by going there first. When he entered the RV, something flew at his face. He barely managed to catch the object before it smacked him. "What the?"

"I got the two of us phones with my own money." Gwen explained. She held up her own pink phone. When Ben checked out the phone, he saw that the back looked like the face of the Omnitrix.

"How'd you do that?" Ben asked, pointing to the symbol.

"They make custom cases on site for a bit more money." Gwen explained.

"Awesome." Ben chuckled, turning the phone on. "Oh, Laura is going to be wanting this." He took the credit card from his pocket and held it out. Max nodded and took it. He opened up a secret compartment on the dash and put the money and card inside.

Just when the compartment was fully closed Laura came rushing in, panting. She looked around and saw Ben lounging on the couch, setting up his new phone. "We got new phones?" Laura asked.

"Nope, just Ben and I." Gwen said, she was leaning on the wall, typing on her phone.

"What? That's not fair." Laura whined.

"Oh, I'm so sorry." Gwen said sarcastically. "Actually, no I'm not." She scoffed.

"To be fair, Gwen did buy these with her own money." Ben said. "Oh, I finished setting it up." He informed Gwen.

"What, so you two get phones while someone like me gets nothing?" Laura shrieked. "It's not fair!" She said with a stomp of her foot.

"Literally no one cares, Laura." Ben sighed. He was starting to get sick of her constant shrieking.

"But I'm a higher class than you losers." Laura whined.

Ben rolled his eyes. "Oh, would you look at that, people care even less."

With another stomp of her foot Laura let out a closed mouth scream, her voice reaching an impressively shrill tone. She stomped over to Ben and plopped herself down next to him, landing so hard that she bounced. She crossed her arms and put on a look so dour that she looked 50.

Ben and Gwen gave each other a look as if to say, "Well that was a bit much." Gwen shrugged and went to sit down at the table. Ben, deciding it was much better to go sit with Gwen, got up and sat across from her. Grandpa Max turned on the RV, started humming a cheery tune, and headed off to the campsite they'd be staying at tonight.

Ben and Gwen texted each other the whole time, plotting out what they were going to do to Laura next. With each chuckle and giggle they let out Laura pouted more and more.

(Texting)

**[Gwen]: **_Jeeze, if Laura wrinkles her face any more it's just going to implode._

Ben turned around to look at Laura and almost couldn't stop himself from laughing.

**[Ben]: **_It'd be an improvement. _

They both burst out laughing.

(End)

"Calm down back there you two." Max gently warned. They both calmed down but still gave each other devilish looks.

(Texting)

**[Ben]: **_Wanna creep Laura out._

**[Gwen]:** _How?_

**[Ben]: **_We smile really creepy at her._

(End)

He sent the text and then gave Gwen a slack jawed smile, his head cocked slightly to the side and eyes glazed over. When Gwen looked up from reading the text she jumped, being spooked by the stare. She smiled and nodded once. "On three" Ben mouthed. With his fingers he counted down, when he reached zero, he turned around to face Laura.

She wasn't looking at them, braiding her hair while lounging on the couch. Ben and Gwen looked at each other, silently they agreed to keep the scary face up until she noticed them. Ben turned back around and they waited patiently. They had to wait for about half a minute but, when she finally glanced over to them, she let out a short scream. She almost fell off the couch. When they started laughing and high fiving Laura flipped them off.

"Ben, Gwen, I don't know what you did to scare Laura but knock it off." Max scolded. "And Laura, I saw that." Laura blushed with embarrassment and scoffed.

"Worth it" Ben texted with a silent chuckle.

Gwen smiled. "Totally." She replied.

They drove for hours before stopping. Meanwhile Ben and Gwen explored their phones, giving each other tips on what they found. Laura looked like she was trying her best to not look jealous, but she failed miserably. After the first hour of complaining Ben strongly suggested that she just play on his PlayStation before he ran out of patience. He didn't like the idea of Laura playing on his system but it was better than her constant whining.

It worked, she stopped complaining about being bored and started complaining that she was losing the game. Ben debated teaching her, but decided to let her figure it out on her own. After all, he had to figure it out by himself, why should she get special treatment? When Ben looked in on her progress, she wasn't doing too bad, she was already on the second stage. Even though she died often he could tell she was getting used to the controls. Maybe they could play together when she got better.

When they finally pulled into a campground for the night. Max made something for himself and Laura. While Ben made something for Gwen and himself. Laura was asking Ben for help the next time she played. "This guy just won't go down; I need your help." Laura said,

"Sure Laura, I'll help you next time." Ben said taking his and Gwen's plate to the table.

"It's nice to see you getting along." Max said putting Laura's plate in front of her.

On one hand Gwen was happy Ben was staring to get along with Laura but on the other hand she was sour about what her mother and father did, that just made her hate Laura more. "You don't like this?" Laura asked, incredulously. Ben and Gwen shook their heads. Laura shrugged and took a bite. "Whatever, losers. You're just missing out." Ben and Gwen watched with looks of immature horror as Laura ate every bite and seemed to actually enjoy it. It was only when Max gave the two of them a stern glare that they started eating. When they were done, they all got ready for bed. Laura and Max were fast asleep when Ben came out of the bathroom, changed into his pajamas.

Gwen went into the bathroom and changed. When she came out Ben was already fast asleep. She cuddled him without caring. If he wasn't going to get her hints then at least she could be with him like this. His slow and steady heartbeat carried her off to sleep with a smile on her face.

I hope you like it, please let me know what you thought about it.


	6. Chapter 6

**sorry for the wait i was away for a little bet. i hope you like this one. (GD)**

* * *

**Chapter 6**

Ben woke up feeling the normal weight of Gwen's head on his chest. Ben looked down at her, her red hair covering her face. He smiled at her.

When Ben had gotten out from her arms, she started to move like she was having a bad dream. "Shhh…" Ben said, running his hand through her hair. When she had stopped shaking Ben stood up. Ben got into the shower.

Laura woke up and saw that Ben was not asleep. She heard the shower running. Laura got out of bed. "_This is my chance to get back at that pussy. I bet he ain't that tough_." Laura thought, quietly walking up to the bathroom door.

She sneakily opened the door and crept in. Ben was lathering his hair; good that meant he'd have his eyes closed. Steam drifted around her, fogging up the mirror and the glass door of the shower. She started getting in position to scare him when her eyes drifted from his head. She was surprised to see that what she thought were skinny, wimpy arms were actually toned.

The start of actual defined muscles graced his biceps. He had not just a flat stomach but actually had abs. She didn't even know 13-year-olds could have muscles. Her eyes drifted even further and…wait. Laura's face was suddenly much too hot for her to tolerate. Blushing wildly, Laura retreated out of the bathroom.

Laura leaned against the wall, rubbing her face in embarrassment. That was an image that would be burned in her mind forever. She had seen his penis. It's not like she meant to, she told herself, it was an accident. A couple of her exes used to send her pictures of them hard and Ben was bigger than them. He wasn't even hard. She shook her head and rubbed her eyes more vigorously, she just wanted to stop thinking about it. She was a whirlwind of emotions, mainly embarrassment. But there were other feelings that she didn't want to deal with, especially right then. She needed some air. She stepped out into the morning air; it was already warm outside. The dirt was slightly damp with dew.

She rapidly calmed down, pushing _that_ image far from of her mind. In fact, she decided that if she never thought about it again until the day she died it'd be too soon. She snorted, choosing to replace embarrassment with contempt. "_But what were those other feelings?_" A small part of her asked. "I really don't care!" Laura shouted aloud, mentally telling that part of her to piss off.

When she heard footsteps coming down the small stairs of the RV, she instantly decided that she didn't want to be spotted outside in her silk, two-piece pajama set. She bolted along the side of the RV and hid on the other side it. The sound of the door closing signaled that whoever was there had stepped out. She crouched down and crept along the front of the RV and poked her head around the corner to see who was there.

It was Ben, and what the heck was he wearing? Instead of his usual white shirt and baby food green pants he wore a tight workout outfit. It was forest green with black accent lines, the armpits were also black. The back of the shirt looked like the same symbol that he had on his watch. He stood at the door way and started stretching his sides, touching his toes, and stretching his back.

When he was done stretching, he started shadow boxing, throwing out jabs and ducking. He was light on his feet, always keeping them moving in some way. With each punch and jab he moved slightly forward. He ended with a roundhouse kick but he messed up and fell hard. It only took him a second to get back up, and brush the dirt off himself. Moving onto to his next exercise he started doing squats. Laura really didn't want to be out here, her flared out pant legs were already getting dirty and she hated the feeling of her feet getting dirty. She narrowed her eyes. "_Why the hell is he exercising anyways?" _She thought viciously. It was summer vacation, the time to be lazy and have fun.

She watched in frustration as he moved on to pushups. Admittedly, she was impressed that he had proper form. She used to watch her father exercise every morning. She shook her head angerly; that man was _not_ her father. Laura hoped that Ben would do something distracting enough that she could sneak back into the RV. "By the way Laura, I know you're there." Ben called out. Laura jumped, and scurried back to the other side of the RV to avoid being seen. How had he known, he never even looked at her. Ben poked his head around the corner. "Boo." He may not have said it loudly but it still made Laura jump.

"How did you know I was here?" Laura asked accusingly.

Ben crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. "You weren't in bed; you couldn't be in the bathroom, and I heard quick footsteps when I was about to open the door." He clearly wasn't in the mood for a fight, well too bad.

"What the hell are you wearing anyways, it's an eyesore." Laura said, crossing her arms as well. "And what's with the ten?" She added, pointing at the number 10 embroidered over his heart.

"It was a gift from Grandpa, he had it specially made for me when he found out that I was working out every day. The '10' is because I was 10 when I got the Omnitrix and it's been part of my hero identity ever since." Ben explained. "I didn't like it at first but it's comfortable and keeps me cool." He brushed the long sleeves with a smile. "I even tested it out, worked out in 110-degree weather and didn't overheat." He paused for a second before adding, "I actually don't know how it does that so well."

"Why do you even work out every day, that's stupid." Laura scoffed.

Ben held up his watch, its face popped up. "I'm a hero, I can't afford to not be in shape." He said, rather dramatically.

Laura rolled her eyes. "Oh please, anyone could do what you do."

Ben laughed. "You only saw a few minutes, but if you really feel that way how 'bout a contest?" Laura cocked an eyebrow so Ben continued, "You do what I do and if you can keep up, I'll admit that I'm going too easy on myself." He smiled goadingly. "I'll even let you get some clothes on." The smug look on his face filled her with anger.

She took the bait. "Fine!" She huffed. "I'll do your stupid challenge." She stormed inside, got changed quietly, and went back outside where Ben was waiting his arms crossed and a smug smile on his face. Laura scoffed; she was up to anything he had in store for her. The people who raised her made her work out with a personal trainer all the time. _'We can't have any fatties in this family.'_ The cold voice of the man who raised her echoed in her head, only fueling her anger.

"Try to keep up." Ben said, turning on his heel and setting off on a jog down the path. Laura followed him and kept by his side. Making sure to take slow, controlled breaths Laura knew she could out last him. By the time they turned back around they had run almost a mile, they were both breathing heavier and sweating.

When they had gotten back to the RV Laura was completely out of breath. Ben looked at her. "I told you that you couldn't keep up with me."

"You're not that much better." Laura said seeing Ben almost as winded as she was.

Ben went over to a nearby tree and started doing pull-ups. Laura fell onto her butt. "Are you okay?" Ben asked, not stopping his workout "Also, the reason I'm a little winded is because I stopped doing my workout three weeks ago." Ben continued, dropping from the tree.

Ben put out a helping hand for Laura. Laura took his hand, getting back to her feet. "Thanks…but I didn't need any help." Laura said, wiping the dirt off her clothes.

"You up for more?" Ben asked walking back to the tree and wrapped his legs around the tree. He let himself fall so he was just hanging from the tree by his legs.

"No, not today." Laura said. "You have fun doing your upside-down crunches." Laura walked back into the RV to find Max was making eggs. Gwen was just coming out of the shower.

"So where is Ben?" Gwen asked, seeing Laura coming in.

Laura looked at Gwen and thought about not telling her where he was then thought otherwise. "He's in a tree."

Maxed looked at her then thought, "He would never let Laura do anything to him..." Gwen started to run outside when Max said, "He's probably doing his workout, he also might want to be alone."

"Okay, Grandpa." Gwen said, looking a little down.

Laura got a glass of water. When she was done drinking it, she said with an evil smile on her face, "Or maybe he only wants a real Tennyson to be out there with him."

"That's not funny Laura. I'm sure he wouldn't mind you being out there. But you should ask him then go out next time." Max said.

"You're right. But I want to ask him now so I can go see him now." Gwen said, standing up from the table. Just then Ben came walking in.

"Ben, how was your workout today?" Max asked. He then placed two plates on the table for Gwen and Laura.

"Considering I haven't worked out in three weeks, not bad." Ben said, walking to the couch in the back and writing his new workout results down.

When Ben had closed the book, Gwen walked up and sat down on the couch next to him. "I have a question. Would it be okay if I came out and watched you work out next time?" Gwen asked.

"That would be more than fine." Ben said, looking up and smiling at Gwen.

Max put his and Ben's plates on the table. "Ben come eat some eggs." Max said.

Ben walked over to the table and sat down. "Well she may just want to watch but I want to join you in your exercise." Laura said, giving Ben another evil smile.

Ben leaned back in the seat and gave a cocky grin. "I don't mind kicking your butt in every single exercise." Ben teased.

"You just think your hot shit, don't you?" Laura yelled, slamming her hands on the table.

"Laura—" Maxed warned but was cut off.

"That's because I am hot shit." Ben gloated, giving Laura a wink.

"Ben!" Max cried, exasperated. "Both of you, watch your mouth." Max said, trying to instill some discipline.

"You're only hot shit because of that watch." Laura screamed.

"Will you two, please stop saying that word?" Max half shouted.

Laura reached over, snatched a piece of Ben's scrambled eggs and chucked it at him. Ben caught it in his mouth and without missing a beat said, "Delish, Grandpa." A cocky grin practically splitting his face in two. "Here you go," Ben said, picking another piece of egg and throwing it at Laura. "Have some more!" It nailed Laura right between the eyes, splattering messily across her face.

Gwen smirked, and said under her breath, but still loud enough for everyone to hear, "Looks like you really got egg on your face this time."

Laura started hyperventilating, her face pink and nostrils flaring with anger. "Hey, calm down, kiddo." Max said, soothingly.

He started to reach a hand out to Laura but she slapped it away. "Don't touch me old man!" She snapped, standing up quickly. "I just—" she snorted and aggressively wiped her face off. "I am going for a walk." She said firmly then stormed out of the RV.

Everyone just sat around dumbfounded for a second. They all silently agreed that, that was weird, even for Laura. Max cleared his throat awkwardly and said, "Well, one of us should go talk to her." When no one spoke up he added, "And it can't be me, I think talking to me would only make her worse."

Ben sighed and said, "I'll go talk to her." He stood up and went looking for her. To his surprise and relief Laura was just about 20 feet away. She was pacing back and forth, cursing and swinging her arms aggressively. Ben sighed and walked up to her, making sure to stay well out of her reach. "Hey." Ben said to get her attention.

Her head immediately snapped to Ben; her face reminded Ben of a bull. "What in the ever-loving _fuck_ do you want, Ben?" She snapped. She stopped pacing and, instead of pacing, she stood with a wide stance and breathing heavily. Her fists were clenched and her nostrils flared to snort every exhale.

"I just came to talk." Ben said, calm and firm.

Laura let out a screech of high pitched, angry laughter. "Well guess what, _Benny boy_; I don't want to talk to you!" She spoke with aggressive hand motions. She tried to walk away but Ben followed close behind, still making sure to keep an arm's length away. "I swear to God, if you don't get off my ass, I'm going to kill you!" She said, not looking back behind her.

"I'm just waiting until you're ready to talk." Ben said with a casual shrug of his shoulders. Laura stopped suddenly; Ben didn't notice in time to stop himself from getting too close. In one fluid motion Laura spun, closed the distance between them in a single stride, and swung at Ben with a right hook. Ben ducked down out to dodge and it sent Laura spinning with the follow through. "You really don't want to fight me, Laura." Ben warned, standing back up.

"Don't tell me what I want!" Laura screeched, lunging at Ben. Ben swerved out of the way, sending Laura tumbling to the ground right by his feet. She immediately took the opportunity, with her legs she swept Ben's feet from under him. He fell to the ground, but caught himself. Laura knew how to fight, she grabbed his right wrist and pulled it out under him while at the same time using her other her other arm to swing.

Ben intentionally faceplanted in order to dodge the swing and then grabbed Laura's arm and pulled, sending her faceplanting as well. "I'm not going to fight you, Laura." Ben said. Half because he knew he'd win in a second and half because he didn't want to hurt her. In response Laura spat in his face and while he wiped it off, she took the opportunity to land a blow on his head. The hit sent stars exploding in his vison but he had taken harder hits without batting an eye.

While he wasn't affected by the punch, Laura had crossed a line. "Don't say I didn't warn you." Ben said. He pounced on Laura, who had started getting back up and was on her hands and knees. She collapsed under his weight and Ben heard the wind get knocked at of her. He spun around, grabbed her wrist and planted his knee in the center of her back. He pulled her arm behind her, holding it against his chest. Ben was angry, but he wasn't going to give her the satisfaction of a fight.

Laura screamed in a mixture of pain and fury. She started thrashing about, screaming obscenities at the top of her lungs. "The more you fight the more you're going to hurt yourself!" Ben yelled over her. Laura had a complete mental breakdown. All of her screaming and ranting started to attract a small crowd. They looked at one another and murmured their dissent. Ben looked around at each of their faces with wide eyes. Was the crowd really booing him? She had completely spat her bit what else was he supposed to do?

"Let her go!" An anonymous voice called from somewhere in the crowd. The crowd agreed, nodding their heads and giving him harsh, disapproving looks.

Ben felt indignation well up inside him. He snorted and let her go, already knowing what was going to happen. As he suspected the second he let go Laura bucked him off, he rolled and ended sitting up. He only had a split second before Laura was on top of him. Purely out of spite he let Laura punch him without blocking her. He heard the crowd panic slightly. _"Good." _He thought viciously. _"I hope you feel bad!"_ On the next swing he caught Laura's wrist. He hooked her leg with his and spun. After a short struggle she was pinned again. "And that is why I pinned her." Ben snorted, addressing the crowd.

One by one they left, until only one man was left standing. Ben looked him in the eye, he could see that the man had something to say. "I'm sorry." Was all he muttered before he too walked away. That just left Ben and Laura, lying in the dirt, with Laura losing her mind.

He waited patiently; he could hold her all day. For a while he had a fun game of counting the number of times Laura swore or smashed her head against the ground, but he stopped after 50. He sighed, getting bored, Laura had run out of things to say and was starting to repeat lines. "Ben?" Ben looked up; Grandpa Max had walked up to him.

"Hey Grandpa, sorry we've been gone for so long, Laura decided to lose her mind." Ben said with a laugh. "Don't worry I think she's almost done." Ben said. This reinvigorated Laura who had started to slow down. She threw her shoulders up hard, knocking Ben off balance. Ben responded by putting more of his weight on her back. She groaned in pain and stopped trying to buck him, instead going back to screaming incoherently. "Okay, scratch that. I'll bring her back in when she finally calms down." Ben said.

"Alright." Max said hesitantly. "Just don't hurt her."

"Hey, all I'm doing is holding her down. She's the one fighting back and hurting herself." Ben said in his defense. Max walked away.

A while passed and Ben sighed. This was just getting ridiculous. How long could this girl rage out? Her voice was completely hoarse and she wasn't even talking anymore. A few more minutes passed and Ben could feel her getting tired, her muscles strained less and she no longer picked her head up off the ground. Slowly she stopped fighting, stopped screaming, and just laid there panting. Ben held for a few more minutes. "Say, you good now?" Ben asked, starting to let up the pressure. Laura nodded. "Because you know if you come at me again, we'll do this again." Laura nodded again.

Ben got off her and sat on the ground next to her. His body ached from holding the same position for so long. "You know, you're a psycho but I can respect how strong you are." Laura turned her head to look at Ben, unable to speak due to either pain or exhaustion. "And you throw a mean punch." Ben laughed, touching his sore cheek. Laura gave him a small smile. "Come on, let's get back to the Rustbucket." He held out his hand for her to take. She took it and he helped her up.

Ben and Laura walked into the RV. Gwen started laughing when she saw Laura's face. "Gwen, it's not funny. Can you please heal her?" Ben asked.

"Yeah…I guess." Gwen said as Ben sat Laura down next to her. Gwen got out her spell book and found the spell she was looking for.

Gwen put a hand on Laura's face and said the spell. When Gwen moved her hand away Laura immediately ran to the bathroom and was surprised that her face was normal. "So, this is how you looked normal the next day after I cleaned your clock." Laura said, coming out of the bathroom.

"Yep." Gwen said.

"Just remember what I did to you for doing that to her." Ben said, turning on his PS4. They spent the rest of the day playing games together.

TBC…

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I hope you liked this chapter and hope to have more soon. Sorry aging about the long wait for this chapter. (GD)


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Ben woke up and for the first time felling happy by the warm weight on his chest. He opened his eyes and saw that it was still dark. as he looked out the window, he saw the first hints of dawn lighting up the sky. He wrapped his arms around Gwen and closed his eyes again, an easy smile on his face. He thought about what happened after they were done playing games last night.

000

"Laura, it's your night to do the dishes." Max said, putting his plate in the sink and rinsing it off with water.

"Me? I don't do dishes." Laura said, haughtily. Max gave her a hard stare that she gave back unflinchingly.

"I'll do it, Grandpa." Ben said. He went XLR8 before Max could object. Within a minute the dishes were done.

"You still have to do them next time, Laura." Max said, firmly.

"Why? Ben did them in a flash with his alien. What's the point of anyone else doing chores when aliens can do them so much better?" Laura said, crossing her arms and huffing loudly.

"It teaches a bit of responsibility, something you are obviously lacking." Max retorted, crossing his arms and staring her down. It was a battle of the wills and Gwen couldn't tell whose was stronger.

Gwen silently asked Ben if he wanted to go outside, with one last look at the silent battle Ben nodded. They slipped outside and found a nearby bench to sit on. The sun was starting to go down, casting the world in harsh shadows and tinting everything yellow. Gwen looked over to Ben, who was lounging with his arms to either side. She felt herself blush, ever so slightly, and felt her heart race. While looking at him a thought passed through her that stuck with her. "_He's perfect,_" it whispered to her; she couldn't help but to agree.

That was it, the last straw. She knew how she felt, and if she held it in anymore it was going to drive her crazy. Taking a deep breath and swallowing hard she summoned her courage. "Ben, I need to tell you something." She said, her voice strong and courageous. He looked over at her, an eyebrow cocked. Looking into his eyes her mouth suddenly dried along with her confidence. "I…uh…" she breathed, her voice failing her. Just then the door to the RV loudly burst open, making them both jump. Gwen stopped trying to talk, part of her frustrated that she was interrupted while the other part celebrated that she didn't have to say it yet.

"Hey, Ben, want to go for a run?" Laura asked hastily, she seemed upset and tapped her foot on the ground impatiently. Gwen noticed that she was already wearing her sneakers.

"You want to hang out with me?" Ben asked, skeptically.

"Fine, let me rephrase it. I'm going for a run and you can come along if you want." Laura snapped, putting her hands on her hips.

"Well, if you so badly want me to go with you, I suppose I could." Ben said, tauntingly. Laura snorted and started stretching. "Hey, what was it you wanted to say?" Ben asked.

"Oh, it was nothing." Gwen said with a dismissive wave of her hand.

"Okay, do you want to come with us?" Ben asked.

Gwen shook her head and said. "No, I'll stay here and study."

Ben let out a snort of laughter. "Alright, whatever you say, nerd." He said, lightheartedly.

"Ugh, would you stop flirting and come on!" Laura groaned.

"He wasn't flirting!"

"I wasn't flirting!"

Both of them said at the same time, their faces red. Laura gave them an annoyed glare before snorting. "Yeah, whatever you say." She shook her head and started jogging away.

"That's my cue." Ben said, before turning and running after Laura. He missed the small sigh that Gwen let out. They ran in silence for a while, only their shoes hitting the hard ground and the evening birds made noise. It was nice, the heat of the day had gone down leaving a pleasant warmth that made the occasional cool breeze that hit he skin fell nice.

"So, are you a jerk or just an idiot?" Laura asked, out of the blue.

"What are you talking about?" Ben asked, thoroughly confused.

"Idiot then…" Laura said under her breath. Ben only just managed to hear her. "I'm talking about the fact that Gwen loves you."

"What? Why do you think that?"

"Oh please, she's always giving you googly eyes, she holds your hand at every single opportunity, she always sits next to you, when those girls were flirting with you, she was so jealous she almost cried. Literally the only way she could be more obvious is if she kissed you!" Laura said, getting more agitated with each point she made.

"So what, it doesn't matter, she's my cousin." Ben scoffed, getting annoyed at her attitude.

Laura stopped suddenly. "What?" She hissed. Ben stopped and faced her. "I didn't know you were this much of a retard!" She walked up to him, grabbed him and shook him by the shoulders. "I'm your cousin idiot! She has absolutely no relation to you!"

It took a few seconds but everything finally clicked for Ben. "Oh… Oh my God!" He gasped and Laura stopped shaking him. "What should I do!?" he asked, his eyes wide.

"Well do you love her?" Laura asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"I don't know! I've never thought about it." Ben said.

Laura shook her head and started jogging again and said. "Well you better think about it, lover boy." Ben started up again too and they ran the rest of the time in silence, only now Ben's stomach was in knots as he tried to figure out how he felt about Gwen.

When they had started their way back to the RV Ben said, "Gwen told me what you said about the girls that hit on me."

"And, so what's your point." Laura said stopping dead in her tracks, a little scared that he might know her big secret.

Ben stopped next to her and said. "I can't help but wonder, are you into just girls or both boys and girls."

Laura blushed a bright red. No one was supposed to know her secret. She was angry at herself for letting it slip to Gwen, but even more angry at Gwen for blabbing it to Ben. It was no one's business who she liked. She looked at Ben, who was giving her an even, patient stare. It was better than the last time someone found out that she liked girls. The icy claws of fear gripped her heart as she unwillingly remembered the last time. It was a sin, that was one of the few lessons her fake family were sure to instill into her, she really didn't want to consider how much worse the lesson could be with access to aliens. She considered telling him to fuck off, considered lying, but she knew that Ben was not the type to believe a lie or take no for an answer when he really wanted to know something. With her stomach twisting itself into tight knots she begrudgingly answered him, "Both."

"That's cool, I was just wondering." His reaction surprised her; did he really not care or was he hiding his reaction for some devious reason? "What?" Ben said, noticing her reaction.

"I…just thought…" She muttered, her voice dropping out before she could finish the sentence. She felt embarrassed that she thought that Ben would react so poorly. She felt stupid for panicking

"It's nothing to be embarrassed about." Ben assured. He placed a hand on her shoulder and gave her a big, confidant smile.

"Yeah…sure…" Laura said, looking away.

000

Ben opened his eyes again and looked out the window, it was still dawn but now reds and oranges painted the sky. He must have fallen back asleep. He looked down at Gwen, who had gotten into a rather uncomfortable looking position. She was on her back, arms and legs splayed out as much as they could. Her head was tilted up so that it looked like she was looking at Ben upside down. Her mouth was wide open, a small streak of drool was running down her chin. It was a weird mixture of ugly, adorable and hilarious. Truly, she was beautiful.

Tiny whimpers could be heard just on the edge of Ben's hearing. It wasn't coming from Gwen, she was still sleeping peacefully, so who was crying? His curiosity getting the better of him he got up, making sure not to wake Gwen. He went over to where Grandpa and Laura slept, lo and behold Laura was the source of the whimpers. She was obviously still asleep but seemed to be having a nightmare. She was breathing fast and would twitch. Her hands were constantly clenching and unclenching. Ben knelt next to her. "Hey, wake up." Ben said softly, putting his hand on her shoulder. Laura woke suddenly and violently she let out a startled yell and slapped Ben, hard. "Dammit." Ben cursed under his breath, clutching his stinging cheek.

"Watch your mouth Ben." Max said, having been woken up from Laura's yell.

"She slapped me, it hurt!" Ben protested.

"Regardless." Max said, sternly. Ben sighed but nodded. "Laura, why did you slap him?" Max asked, sounding frustrated.

"I didn't mean to." Laura said defensively. "He woke me up while I was having a bad dream."

"Nightmare more like it." Ben said.

"Semantics." Laura scoffed.

"Not really." Ben shot back.

"Alright you two, stop bickering." Max said, sternly. "It's too early for this." He mumbled under his breath, sitting up.

They glared at each other for a few seconds before Ben broke the silence. "Well, I'm going to get ready for my exercise." He said, standing up and stretching.

Ben got into his exercise clothes, he got his water and headed outside and sat at the bench starting to stretch. By the time he was done Laura came out. She was already dressed and had her running shoes on. "Oh, I didn't think you'd want to do this again." Ben said, surprised. He picked up his water bottle and offered it to her.

Laura reached behind her and pulled out a water bottle that had been clipped to her belt loop. "Got one, thanks." She sat down next to him and sighed. "Anyways, I think this is nice, Ya know?" She clipped the bottle behind her again. "The running that is."

"Hey, before we get started, I got to ask you something." Ben said. Laura gave him a quizzical look. "Why did you look so scared when I asked about you liking girls?" Ben asked. Immediately Laura got a horrified look on her face, it was only for a second but it was there. "See, that's exactly what I'm talking about!"

Laura looked angry and she snorted. "What does it matter to you." She scoffed.

"It matters to me because something happened to make you fearful of just thinking about it. I'm concerned." Ben said, he wasn't able to hide the agitation in his voice. Why did she have to make this so difficult?

She considered him for a moment, giving him a hard glare. Eventually she said, "It's really not that big of a deal. When my—at that time—parents found out that I liked girls they taught me that it was wrong. I got the stick, they made me emptied out my room until it was just a mattress and stayed like that for a few months until I finally learned my lesson." She said it all so casually. It was deeply disturbing.

"And that's not a big deal?" Ben asked in disbelief.

"Well it's not like it's abnormal. They couldn't have the only child that had any claim to their empire be gay." Laura said, defensively, her aloof mask cracking.

"Laura, that's abuse." Ben said, throwing his arms wide in exasperation.

"Abuse is when they hit you and leave a mark, so no, it wasn't abuse. Stop being overdramatic." She said, standing up and starting to walk away.

"Stop!" Ben said standing up and grabbing Laura by the shoulders. She stopped but tensed up. "Just…promise me that if anyone hurts you, you'll tell me. I'll protect you."

Laura turned around suddenly, her face red and her eyes watering. "Yeah, sure, and I'll be a fairy—fucking—godmother." Laura hissed. She pushed Ben away.

"Look, I know it doesn't always seem like it but I care about you and your wellbeing. Your family, Laura, that means something to me." Ben said gently.

Laura sniffed, rubbed her eyes aggressively, and shook her head. "Yeah, sure, whatever." She said begrudgingly. "Are we going for a run or not?" Ben nodded and they walked to the main road. When they were ready, they took off at a full run. After a few minutes they slowed into a fast-paced jog. After fifteen minutes of that Laura began to slow down, Ben could see how much she was struggling. He slowed to match her, she gave him a grateful look and slowed to a stop. "You have no right to have such stamina." Laura said between gasps. She pulled out her water bottle and drained half of it before she stopped.

"You need to learn how to control your breathing while you run. You'll get a lot more mileage that way." Ben said, taking out his bottle and taking several large mouthfuls.

Laura gave Ben a dirty look. "Let's head back." Laura said standing up straight.

"You can head back I'm going to keep going." Ben said starting to run on.

Laura scoffed at him, but started to walk slowly back to the RV. When she got back, she saw that Gwen was sitting outside. "Where is Ben?" Gwen asked seeing Laura coming back.

"He kept going, I got exhausted." Laura said sitting next to Gwen. Also, I thought you'd be inside reading that book of yours."

"Oh…well I couldn't concentrate." Gwen said nervously. Laura rolled her eyes but didn't say anything.

They sat there for an hour watching the route Ben took on Gwen's phone synced to the phone tracker that she and Ben set up together so they could keep track of each other. They watched for a while and was surprised on just how far Ben was going without stopping. "Oh my god, he's been running for 15 miles. What, is he training for a marathon?" Laura said, part out of jealousy and part out of disbelief.

Suddenly Ben's dot stopped and a second later disappeared. They gave each other a curious glance before they found out why. XLR8 appeared next to them. He had been going to fast for the tracker to follow. "That was fun." XLR8 chuckled before turning back human.

"Why did you use XLR8 to get back?" Gwen asked.

"Well when I stopped and looked at my phone, I saw how far away I was. If I would have ran the way back normally, I would have missed breakfast." He said, laughing lightheartedly. He caught Laura's dirty look. "What? I told you I wasn't done."

"Did you really run that whole time without using your aliens?" She asked accusingly. She was hoping that he had used them to get there.

"Yeah, I only used XLR8 to get back." Ben said, drinking some water. Laura scoffed and went inside, intending to take a shower. Maybe she'd use all the hot water and then Ben would have to take a cold one.

"I wish you would have woken me up so I could have gone on the run with you." Gwen said with a sigh. Ben suddenly looked nervous. His face was still cool but there was something in his eyes and subtle in his body language that said he was nervous. "I mean I wouldn't have been able to do the 15 miles but…" her voice trailed off when Ben sat down next to her. "Ben, is there something wrong?" She asked, turning to Ben. She blushed when Ben put his hands on her shoulder, his face clearly showing his nervousness now. Without a word Ben pulled Gwen into a kiss, meeting her halfway. It was a little rough and very sloppy but Gwen's heart leapt for joy anyway. Gwen didn't know what to do with her hands but settled she started wrapping her arms around Ben.

Ben parted his lips slightly and shyly Gwen did the same. It made the kiss better. His lips were so soft and now that he wasn't so nervous, he was tender. To Gwen time lost all meaning. Ben pulled her in closer and she skootched onto his lap. They held each other tightly as they switched between quick, shallow kisses and deep, slow kisses.

When they finally pulled away Gwen opened her eyes to see that Ben's face was just as red as hers. Ben unconsciously licked his lips and said, "I love you, Gwen. I don't know when I started to but I do." Gwen's eyes started to water. "What's wrong?" Ben asked, very concerned. "Why are you crying?"

Gwen sniffled and rubbed her eyes. "I'm just so happy." She said with a half sob and a wide smile. "I love you too." They shared a tight embrace. Gwen would have never let go if it wasn't for—

"I knew you two would get together soon." Laura said, half chuckling half scoffing.

"Well I'm just happy to be with the one I love." Ben said, holding Gwen a little tighter. It almost felt defensive.

Laura narrowed her eyes and said, "Good luck convincing the old man to let you keep sleeping in the same bed." She said viciously.

Gwen felt her stomach drop and she looked at Ben, concerned. "Why wouldn't he let us?" Ben said confidently. He half picked up, half skootched Gwen off his lap and stood up, glaring at Laura. "I'll go ask right now." He said, marching into the RV. Gwen and Laura followed close behind. Grandpa Max was sitting at the table reading. He looked up in surprise when they stormed in. "Grandpa, I love Gwen and we are dating." Ben said bluntly.

"To tell you truthfully, I wasn't expecting you to be the one to tell me." Max said with a chuckle.

"Can we still share a bed?" Ben asked. Gwen felt embarrassed that he asked so directly.

Max paused for a few seconds and seemed to give it thought. "I trust you two, given that there's little privacy in such a small living space. Though I might have to reconsider letting you two share a room at a hotel. I'll have made up my mind by the time we next stay at one." He said, going back to reading. Ben stuck his tongue out at Laura, who was speechless.

Ben went to make breakfast, having a smug and cocky air to him the whole time. Laura spent the whole time he was cooking staring daggers at him while Gwen spent the time staring at him lovingly. She considered herself lucky that he could cook it would mean that he could teach her. She fantasized about Ben teaching her how to cook, it was so romantic. She was so enraptured by Ben that she completely forgot about the fact that they would soon be on the road to the largest amusement park in the world, however it would take them a couple days to get there.

TBC…

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I hope you like it, please let me know what you thought about it.


End file.
